


The Undead Heroes (The first part of The Reiteration of Olympus)

by Reylaviv



Series: The Reiteration of Olympus [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Asexuality, Demigods, Fanfiction, Multi, Mythology References, Originally Posted on Wattpad, PoC, charlena
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-09 10:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 23
Words: 34,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12274968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reylaviv/pseuds/Reylaviv
Summary: Six half-bloods shall be needed for the task ahead,Among them a traitor and the one who fled.Something lost shall be found and the truth shall be told,Those once selected by death shall realize time gained a hold.





	1. Author's note

I'm a privileged white girl and most of the characters in this story are not. I am incredibly sorry if I offend anyone with my story and if you find something you would consider hurtful or offensive please message me. I only own some of the characters and the rest belong to Rick Riordan. This is a fanfiction I wrote over the span of several months and I would really love it if you read it. And maybe share it, if you'd like. That'd be cool.  
This is my third fanfiction that I've ever written and the first one I've actually finished. I hope you enjoy my story!  
If you ever want to reach me my social medias are:  
Tumblr: Tesselleon-artblog  
Twitter: Tesselleon  
Instagram: Elyoniade

Have a nice read!


	2. Chapter 1, Mrs. Lincoln still lets me leave class

DESIRÉE   
I’ve skipped class a lot and I've also used a lot of different excuses to get out of class. Some of them include saying that I need to use the bathroom, that I need to get some cough drops or that I needed to get my textbook (which I purposely left in my locker so I had an excuse to get out of class)(Don't be like me kids.)   
But of all the reasons I’ve wanted to leave class, seeing a lizard creature spewing fire on my school's football field is probably the strangest. Unless you're a demigod of course. In that case, fire breathing lizard creatures are as normal as that kid in your class who always arrives late.   
It all started when I was in math class. 'Wow, how cliché, a kid who doesn’t like math' you might say, but kid, that's where you're wrong. I freakin' love math. Numbers and patterns? That's this girl’s favourite thing. But math class? Send that thing to Tartarus. It's just the same thing over and over again. Sorry Mrs. Lincoln, but spending week after week counting how many percent of apples there are in this bag of fruit? Not really the most exciting thing in the world. Luckily for me, that was exactly what we were doing that day. None of the kids in my class payed attention to the lecture and I felt a bit bad for my teacher. It's not the easiest thing in the world to make 14-year olds pay attention to math in the last period on a Friday before spring break.  
Some kids in the back of the classroom threw eraser crumbs at me, being careful that Mrs. Lincoln didn't catch them. I'm used to getting stuff thrown at me so I simply ignored it and looked out the window.   
Now listen closely here kids, because that was a very crucial move for this story. Without those kids throwing erasers at me I would've never look out the window and then this story would have never happened. So, you should thank your school bullies for being so annoying, it can lead to magnificent adventures! Just kidding. Don't thank them. They're rude. (I was going to use a less family friendly word but apparently this story needs to be family friendly).   
So, when I looked out the window I saw something quite strange. At my school's football field stood a disgusting lizard creature fighting someone. I wasn't close enough to see who the person fighting it were, but I could tell that they were a definitely used to fighting weird monsters. I probably should have completely freaked out about seeing a monster, but the logical part of my brain had apparently shut off that day. 

I shot my hand up into the air and begged to all the gods I knew that my teacher would notice me. It probably only took a minute but it felt like it took a billion years before she called on me.   
"Yes, Desirée?"   
"Miss, could I use the restroom?"   
Mrs. Lincoln looked at me disappointedly. She must've thought that I wanted to say something about the lecture. Poor woman.   
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.   
"Desirée I have let you used the restroom so many times during my lectures that by now I know that you just want to get out of class." The class laughed at me but Mrs Lincoln shushed them.   
Damn.   
"But please miss,” I said and made my voice as weak as I could. "I feel like I'm going to puke, miss."   
Mrs. Lincoln's face became pale and she practically shoved me out the classroom.   
Now kids, my stepmom says that I'm not allowed to be a bad influence to my peers so don't use this excuse to get out of class. But if you do, you didn't hear it from me.   
I ran as fast as I could towards the football field, getting my bag and jacket from my locker on the way. The cold air quickly surrounded me when I made my way outside. Even though it was April here in Virginia the weather was still quite cold and I was so glad that I remembered to get my jacket.   
I hurried over to the football field but made sure not to be seen by the weird lizard thing or the person fighting it. I hid underneath the bleachers and finally got a chance to get a good look of the person.   
The first thought that hit me was "handsome".   
Fighting the monster was a tall black girl, maybe six foot, with a bunch of small jet-black braids pulled into a bun on top of her head. She wore a pair of loose jeans that covered her ankles and a pair of red converse. She was also wearing a grey-ish brown sweater that had a few scorn marks from the lizard things fire and a backpack. She was dressed really plainly but you couldn't miss her unremarkable beauty. But even though her looks could've been enough to keep me staring at her forever there was one special thing that kept me from looking away. Her eyes looked like a tropical ocean, a beautiful mixture of green and blue that seemed to be copy and pasted from a picture of the tropics.   
Now, I would have nothing against looking at this girl forever, but unfortunally a torpedo of fire was quickly coming closer to my face. I let out a scream and tried to get away from it. I got away from the blast but if I were a second slower I'd been toast. The girl and the lizard thing had apparently heard my scream and were both staring at me. The monster looked overjoyed to have another prey but the girl on the other hand looked like I had tripped her just in front of the finishing line. The monster quickly made its way towards me and I scurried away from underneath the bleachers. The air started to feel tighter and it was difficult to breathe. When I finally got out I coughed up a bunch of soot. I didn't really understand why there were so much soot in my lungs but when I turned around I got my answer. The bleachers were on fire.


	3. Chapter 2, A Victoria Secret model saves me from a Chimera

DESIRÉE  
Now I've done a lot of things that have gotten me in trouble before at school, but they were only things that sent me to principal's office. I think that unintentionally burning down the school's football field would give me a bit more than a talk with the principal.  
I was so focused on the burning bleachers that I didn't notice the girl walking up to me. You can probably guess how terrified I was when she hissed in my ear:  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"  
I jumped and turned to look at her, standing in a sort of karate pose that was supposed to be intimidating. She was not impressed.  
I lowered my arms and pulled myself together. She looked at me like she was expecting an answer, and quick.  
"Uh well I saw you from the window battling a lizard and-"  
"Chimera. Not a lizard."  
"Uh right Chimer- wait what!?"  
I turned to look at what I had thought to be a lizard monster and realized that it was actually a massive lion-goat-snake thing. How I could've missed two-thirds of the creature I don’t know. The Chimera seemed to pay us no attention at the moment, gazing at the fire as if thinking "WOW I made a great job that cute Dracaenae is totally going to notice me now!” I couldn't do much else than just stare at it, which proved to be very stupid. Lifehack: If you see a Chimera, RUN. Run far away and pretend you never saw it.  
The Chimera turned towards us and started attacking again. I let out a shriek and tried to hide behind the girl; which was quite easy since she was at least 8 inches taller than me. The girl just let out a sigh and muttered something that sounded like "Enough of this idiocrasy". She moved her arm and water started erupting from the ground. Now that I think about it she probably got the water from pipes that laid under the field but all I could think in the moment was "OH MY GODS WHAT IS HAPPENING".  
Whilst I was in complete shock the girl kept a level head and put out the fire. Let me tell you; there is something insanely beautiful about putting out a fire with what is basically a small lake. She let the water become a sort of massive bubble that covered the fire completely. The Chimera tried to run away from the girl’s water bubble but it got caught inside it instead. The Chimera tried to swim out of the water but before it could the girl had jumped into it too and impaled it with her sword, turning it into golden dust. The girl let the water sink back into the earth and got back to her spot in front of me, but this time she looked at me. Even though she was surrounded by water a second ago she was completely dry. Her ocean coloured eyes looked at me coolly, as if she was trying to decide why I was still there wasting her time. I tried to come up with something to say but she cut me off before I could even start.  
"Now could you continue explaining what you were doing here?" She seemed to be a bit more relaxed now that the chimera was gone, but she still intimidated me. A lot.  
"Uh so I saw you from my math class window and I saw you fighting some lizard thing and I thought 'hey what's going on I should help' or something to be fair I just wanted to get out of class oh my gods why did I say that I-"  
Luckily, I was saved from an hour-long ramble by the school bell.  
"Oh hey, school's over", I said to the girl. She looked over at the school building that now had students seeping out of it.  
"Yeah I guess it is".  
An awkward silence sprung up between us that broke when I noticed the state of the football field. I let out a quiet mantra of 'I'm going to be in so much trouble this sucks' when I looked at the once prestige grass field that was now charred to bits. I hadn't noticed that the fire had spread and for some reason, it hurt looking at the once beautiful field. Now, I don’t care about sports in the slightest but seeing the field destroyed made me feel... Well destroyed I guess. I wanted the grass to come back and be as luscious at it had been before the Chimera destroyed it. I wished that it would grow back, but I didn't actually believe that it would.  
So, you can probably understand why I was shell shocked when beautiful emerald coloured grass started covering the field. I looked over at the girl to see if it was her doing (hey she just bent water it's not that farfetched to believe that she could make grass grow). But it seemed like she was as confused as I was. We would've probably stood there forever if a student hadn't screamed "Hey! Look at the football field!”  
I figured that that was our cue to get out of there as fast as we could and the girl apparently had the same idea as me. She grabbed my arm forcefully and started darting out of there, practically carrying me along. I could barely keep up with her so I was delighted when she slowed down as we made it out of school borders.  
"What", I had to catch my breath before I could continue, "What just happened to the football field?”  
The girl looked at me and I saw an expression that I thought a girl that looked like a Victoria Secret model could never have: uncertainty.  
"I'm not quite sure", she began slowly, "But I think you just made that grass grow".  
My brain had apparently shut off for the day because that sounded reasonable to me. She looked at me and she seemed to mentally face-palm herself. She stretched out her arm in front of her, as if she was expecting a handshake.  
"I'm Dylan Jones, by the way." I took her hand. "Oh, but you could call me Dyl if you'd like", she added quickly. She had almost done an entire one-eighty in the way she was speaking to me now. Her voice was calm and a bit nervous, like the sea right before a storm. I shook her hand determinately.  
"I'm Desirée Santiago, but you can call me Des", I said with a smile. "Thanks for saving my life". Dylan gave me a small tight-lipped smile in response.  
The fight with the Chimera must've drained me because a wave of famine and exhaustion suddenly hit me. My stomach rumbled and Dylan’s smile grew a bit bigger.  
"Hungry?” she asked, her tone seeming as if she tried to hold in a laugh.  
"And tired,” I said. "Is it okay if you tag along to my place? I really need food and a nap and I'd appreciate it if you could answer what in the world just happened".  
Dylan seemed reluctant to accept my offer but she agreed to come back to my place and we made our way back home.


	4. Chapter 3, I get a bespectacled companion

DYLAN   
Desirée was a demigod.  
As soon as I saw her under the bleachers I knew that there was something special about her, but I wish it would have been something else. Couldn’t she just have been a mortal that could see through the mist? That would have saved me a lot of trouble. That thing with the grass was definitely her doing, and that’s when I realized she must’ve been a daughter of Cer- Demeter.   
It was getting close to four pm. when we were walking to her home and all I could think about was how I could ditch her. It’s bad, I know! But I don’t want to deal with the gods more than I already have to. We’re not really on the best terms to put it lightly. But when I looked over at Desirée I knew that if I left her now she wouldn’t make it long. She was small and a bit chubby with red-ish brown frizzy hair pulled into a low ponytail. She also wore rectangular glasses that were too big for her face. This kid wouldn’t make it a day alone now that she knew that mythological monsters existed. Even though every single cell inside me told me to run away and leave her I decided that I would at least keep her safe until I could get her to Camp Jupiter. The thought of going back there terrified me and made me want to just run away until my legs gave out. I didn’t have good memories about that place but if going there was going to save this kid then I’d have to go.  
Desirée led me through the streets of Richmond until we eventually got to an average sized house with a small fence. Desirée opened the gate of the fence and walked towards the front door. I followed her, (remembering to close the gate after me ‘cause I have manners), and followed Desirée when she walked through the door. Her home was a bit cramped but homely all the same. Desirée led me to the kitchen and motioned for me to sit down on a chair whilst she got something to eat. I didn’t want to tell her, but I was probably as beat as she was. I try not to use my godly powers as much as I can, which makes me unused to how much energy it takes. That doesn’t mean that I’m rusty with my powers though, I have an annoying amount of control over them. Using them is as easy as breathing, which makes it super annoying trying to suppress it.   
Desirée handed me a packet of yoghurt and a spoon getting the same for herself. I opened the packet and starting eating, Desirée doing the same. Neither of us could come up with anything to say so we just kept eating.  
But, as is always the case with eating something, it eventually ran out. It was quiet for a while before Desirée said:  
“What is going on?”   
I sighed deeply and ransacked my brain for a good answer to her question. How do you explain to someone that their life will never be the same as soon as they understand what is going on? I decided to make it as simple as ripping off a band-aid; easy and direct.  
“Most things in the Greek and Roman mythologies are real and there is a high chance that you are a demigod.”  
I looked at her and she looked stunned for a moment before nodding determinately. She seemed to accept the fact so easily and I had no idea how she did it. If I were her I would think I was crazy.  
“Are you a demigod too?” she asked.  
“Yes.”  
She thought for a second before asking a question I hate.  
“Who’s your godly parent then?”  
Now, the reason I am not the number one fan of the gods is because of who my godly parent is.  
Neptune. Roman god of the sea.   
Neptune’s Greek counterpart, Poseidon, was adored by the Greek. He was one of the most worshipped gods for sure. Neptune though?   
Not so much.  
The Romans feared him and seeing as they weren’t really ones for sea fare they weren’t a big fan of the sea. But Neptune wasn’t only the god of the sea; he was also the god of fresh water, earthquakes and horses. One thing is not like the others.  
Now I don’t have a problem with my dad, he’s actually pretty cool. Sure he has a few anger issues as most Roman gods have but except that he’s cool. To me at least. I guess that’s because I’m his daughter though.  
No, the reason I don’t like people knowing who my godly parent is because of Camp Jupiter. They aren’t really the biggest fans of Neptune or his kids. They consider us dangerous and bad luck, and last time I checked my dad’s temple was just a shack, unlike all the other major gods. When the people at camp learned that I was a child of Neptune they resented me and I know when I’m not wanted. I got out of there as fast as I could and vowed to never go back.  
Until now.  
“Take a guess,” I told her scraping the bottom of my yoghurt packet with my spoon. She looked at me and put her hand on her chin and made an over exaggerating thinking face.   
“Weeellll… you can bend water and you look really cool sooo…” She knocked on her temple like Whinnie the Pooh and made an “Aha!” sound.  
“Your parent must be Poseidon!” she exclaimed. She looked really proud of herself and as the terrible person I am I corrected her.  
“Neptune”  
Her face fell and I tried so hard to hold in a smug smile before catching myself on what I’d just done. Apparently, my urge to crush people’s hopes and dreams is bigger than the urge to protect my identity.  
“Neptune, Poseidon. Same thing,” she muttered. She had an amused look on her face but when she looked at me her face turned into one of concern.  
“Hey, are you okay? You look really pale.” I scratched my neck and sighed.  
“I said something I shouldn’t have.” She looked confused so I continued. “You can’t tell anyone who my dad is. People don’t really appreciate him or his kids.” She just stared at me and I couldn’t really tell what she was thinking. I felt nervous and I started to explain further but she cut me off.  
“Okay.”  
“Okay?”  
She shrugged. “It’s your dad and if people really don’t appreciate you guys then I won’t say anything.” She gave a smile. “Mainly because they’re stupid. You guys are cool.”  
I laughed at what she said. “You’ve known me for what, two hours? And you’ve already decided that I’m cool?”  
“Yup!”  
She stood up and threw her yoghurt in the trash. I started to get up to throw mine away too, but she took it and threw it away before I could. I gave her a questioning look and she looked a bit sheepish.   
“Sorry,” she said, “I’m kinda a freak about having the trash being in the right bin. I don’t want to destroy the planet in more ways than I already do, you know?”   
Yup, definitely a daughter of Demeter.  
“But, hey, Dylan”, she said.  
“Yeah?”  
“Will things like that that Chimera come after me?”


	5. Chapter 4, I hate escort missions

DYLAN

I really hate escort missions. They are so annoying and pointless.

Of course, I had to do them in real life too.

I had explained to Des what it meant to be a demigod and how monsters would start coming after her now that she knew about them. I also told her about Camp Jupiter and how it's the only safe place for demigods. It seemed to be a bit much to take it in but she handled it better than I thought she would. She decided that she wanted to come to this 'Camp Jupiter'. I advised against it, seeing as if she just disappeared all of a sudden her parents would worry. She told me that they wouldn't and called her dad to prove her point. It turned out that her dad knew that she was a demigod and he was somehow okay with her coming with me to Camp Jupiter. And, I don't know about you, but if I called one of my moms and told her that I was going to go with a stranger to a camp for demigods she'd send me to therapy. If she didn't already know about me being a demigod of course.

So now Des and I were walking towards Main street station to get her on a train to San Francisco. It would be a long ride to get to California from Virginia but it was the easiest way to get to camp if you didn't go by plane.

Des was asking me a lot of questions about camp and a lot of them I couldn't answer. I hadn't been there since I was five, which is almost twelve years ago.

Wow, I'm old.

"What type of food do they have there? Is it like food from the Roman empire or like food from the 21st century?" Des had endless questions like that one and I had no idea how she could ask so much.

After we had been walking for a while I got a bad feeling in my stomach. Something was following us.

I dragged Des into an alley and she started asking what was going on. I motioned for her to be quiet. I dragged her behind some crates when I heard footsteps coming towards us. We kept ourselves hidden and tried to figure out who had come into the alley. By the footsteps, I'd say it was two people of very different builds and when they started speaking I could tell that they were a male and a female.

"Are you sure you saw them go in here?" a calm deep voice that seemed to belong to a man said.

"Yes I'm sure," a higher pitched voice answered him, this one belonging to a woman. "They could probably tell we were following them and got scared." She sounded regretful and sad.

"I know you feel bad about it but if they really were demigods it would be the right thing to help them get to camp half-blood," the man said. Camp half-blood? 

I didn't know who they were or what they were talking about so my plan was to stay hidden until they left and then make our way to the station.

But Des ruined my plan.

She seemed to have tripped over something when she tried to adjust her position but lost her balance and crashed into a crate. The people that had followed us heard it and rushed over to us. At least now I could get a good look at them and decide if it would be possible to fight them.

I was right about them being a male and female and about them having very different builds.

The woman was extremely beautiful and looked very kind. She was quite skinny and had long dark brown hair gathered into a high ponytail. She wore a pink hoodie and light denim skinny jeans. She wore a pair of flats, which she probably regretted seeing how cold it was outside. She also had a sports bag thrown over one shoulder.

The man, on the other hand, couldn't exactly be defined as beautiful. He wasn't really ugly but he wasn't stereotypically attractive. His build was very big and he looked extremely muscular. His dark skin had a lot of scars on it and he wore simple clothes; a pair of jeans, an army jacket, a pair of sneakers and a large backpack.

Though, when I think about it I probably should call them a boy and a girl. They only seemed to be about 18 years old which wasn't much older than me.

The girl rushed over to Des and it looked like she was going to help her up to her feet but I stopped her from getting too close. She might have looked kind but I didn't trust her. She must have caught on about my suspicions of her and apologized.

"I'm sorry," she said and backed away to give us some space. "I didn't mean to get too close."

She and the boy watched me help Des up and then motioned for her to stand behind me. I pulled out my sword and held it defensively in front of me.

"We're sorry", the guy said, taking a step back and pulled the girl along with him. "We don't want to hurt you; we just heard you talking about Camp Jupiter and thought you might be demigods."

I made no move to put down my weapon and that had apparently annoyed Des.

"Oh come on Dyl!" she exclaimed and pushed in front of me. I looked at her as if she were an idiot. We didn't know these people and she wanted me to put down my weapon. She really had a lot to learn but I did as she wanted and attached the sword to my hip. Des looked satisfied.

She looked at the two strangers and seemed to take them both in. She apparently didn't think they were threatening and started talking to them.

"Who are you? And why do you know about Camp Jupiter?"

The girl smiled at her directness and answered her.

"My name is Silena Beauregard and this is my boyfriend Charles Beckendorf", she said and pointed first at herself and then at the guy. "I'm a daughter of Aphrodite and he is a son of Hephaestus." The guy, whose name was apparently Charles, gave us an awkward wave. They used the Greek names.

Des seemed to be satisfied with their answer and introduced us.

"I'm Desirée Santiago. I'm a demigod, I think, but I have no idea who my parent is." She pointed at me and said, "This is Dylan Jones and she's the daughter of-"

She remembered what I'd told her and changed her sentence. "Someone. She hasn't told me yet." Silena looked a bit suspicious but she didn't say anything.

I turned towards them.

"Answer her question", I said. "Why do you know about Camp Jupiter?"


	6. Chapter 5, Charlie, I saw Charlie

SILENA

When I died I didn’t really know what to think. There was a sort of joy in it, seeing as I would meet Charlie again and as a traitor of the camp I didn’t really deserve to keep living with those who had been loyal.

But there was also a lot of sadness. I would never get to see Clarisse or my dad again. I would never be able to go Pegasus riding with Katie Gardner and I would never witness Percy and Annabeth finally confessing their feelings for each other. I would never get to complain about my dad’s chocolate again and I would never help another camper with their love life. I would never see my friends again.

I would never see the ones I love again

Getting to the underworld was all a blur. People were talking but I couldn’t understand what they said and before I could comprehend what was happening I stood before a golden gate. It opened before me and behind it stood someone I thought I would never meet again.

I ran as fast as I could and threw myself at him, hugging him harder than I thought was possible for me. I didn’t know if he would forgive me or even bother to ever speak to me again but at that moment I didn’t care. It was my fault he died and I thought I’d never see him again. I thought I would never to feel his touch again.

I eventually let go and looked at my boyfriend Charles Beckendorf. He looked exactly as I remembered him and he had a smile on his face that made my knees weak.

“I’ve been waiting for you”, he said and hugged me tightly. I had missed his voice so much. I could feel my eyes watering and soon I was sobbing in his arms. That moment was the first time I ever saw Charlie cry.

I don’t know how long we just stayed like that, me held safely to his chest, but it felt like forever. Not as if I’m complaining of course.

After our hugging session was over I explained things to him. I told him about how I was the traitor of camp and how Luke had been able to convince me that I was saving lives. My voice was barely audible between my sobs but somehow Charlie understood me.

And he forgave me.

I didn’t want to but I tried to convince him that he shouldn’t forgive me that easily. I didn’t want to but I couldn’t let him accept that I had betrayed him. I was the traitor. How couldn’t he understand that I had caused his death?

But Charlie wouldn’t accept any of my self-pity. He told me that he could forgive me because he could understand my cause. And he told me that he loved me.

That was the first time he had said “I love you”.

The year that we spent together in Elysium was good. We had each other and Elysium was a very nice place, but I missed my loved ones.

The only person from the living world that we had contact with was Nico Di Angelo. The son of Hades came down regularly to check up on us and it was kind of a sweet gesture. When I met him down there for the first time he told me how I was regarded as a hero by the camp. He told me all about how the Aphrodite cabin and the Ares cabin had burned my shroud together and declared me a hero. For the third time since coming to Elysium, I broke down crying. Nico seemed very uncomfortable with me crying and I can’t really blame him. I don’t think that he had much practice with girls crying.

And before anyone asks, yes, I did know that he was gay. No, he didn’t tell me and no, I didn’t tell anyone either. Some children of Aphrodite has the power to be able to sense someone’s sexuality and who they are in love with. I could tell as soon as I met Nico when he was ten that he was gay. I didn’t say a thing about it because it wasn’t the right thing to do. To be honest I think I realized it before he did.

Most days were the same in Elysium, people came and people left. It was a non-stop party and it was constantly joyous. Until one day about six months ago. Nico had informed us earlier that Gaea was rising and that the doors of death were open, and that we should be cautious. He told us that it was now possible to come back to life. He even offered to help us coming back to life. I wanted so badly to accept his offer but I couldn’t. It wasn’t right.

But even if I knew it wasn’t right it happened eventually without my consent. One second I was in Elysium with Charlie and the next I stood on a beach somewhere I didn’t recognize. I was all alone and I thought I had lost Charlie again until he appeared beside me. We were both very confused but it soon turned out that we had been revived by the earth mother Gaea, who had attempted to recruit fallen demigods to help her take down the gods. Unfortunately for her neither I nor Charlie was up for that plan. After walking around for a while and going into a town by the beach we learned that we were in Greece. How we ended up there after dying in the U.S I have no idea about, but I had my suspicions that Gaea put us there.


	7. CHAPTER 6, A long trip back home

CHARLES

It took us a long time to get back home to the U.S. We didn’t have any way of contacting any of our demigod friends and we had no money either. But even though there were a lot of hardships Silena and I eventually made our way back home to the U.S.

We wouldn’t have been able to find much food on our trip if it wasn’t for Silena’s charmspeak. I knew that she hated using her charmspeak, especially when it was used on innocent people. I had comforted her time and time again after she had to charmspeak people into giving us food or giving us their means of transport. My heart broke every time she cried in my arms but I knew that we had to do this to move forward.

We had travelled from Greece to Libya and from there we travelled the west coast of Africa until we found a boat that travelled to South America. We took a boat that ended up in Venezuela and from there we travelled through Central America an eventually made our way into Texas. The trip from Greece to Texas was long and exhausting. Even though both I and Silena wanted to give up right then and there we kept going. We had made it into the U.S we couldn’t just give up now.

Silena and I decided that our first stop was my mother’s place. I had missed her so much when I was in Elysium and I could barely wait to see her again. My mother lived in Georgia so we took a bus from Laredo to Columbia. The bus ride was long and barely an hour in Silena fell asleep on my shoulder. There wasn’t anyone on the buss except for us and a mother and her child. I couldn’t help but think of Silena when I saw them. She had always talked about how she’d love to have kids someday and how she wanted to have a big happy family. She had looked so excited whenever she spoke about it and I loved her even more every time she got a big goofy smile on her face and jokingly said that we’d have a big family together one day.

The day I died my last thoughts were about Silena. I had waited for her in Elysium and I was determined to wait for her when she arrived there as an old lady who’d had a life full of joy.

Instead of that, she came only a few weeks after me.

I was both happy and sad when I saw her at the gates. I was so happy to see her again but I didn’t want her to die so soon. I wanted her to have a long good life, even if I weren’t a part of it.

I looked at the sleeping Silena on my shoulder and smiled. She looked so peaceful and content sleeping there. I couldn’t believe how lucky I had been when she said yes when I asked her to the fireworks festival. Who knows, maybe we can get that big family together one day.

We eventually got to Columbia and I woke Silena up. She seemed a bit disoriented and had a line of drool coming from her mouth. I can confirm that children of Aphrodite look beautiful even when they just woke up and have drool on their face.

We went off the bus and started walking towards my mother’s car repair shop. I had a feeling that she would be in the shop and I was right. The shop wasn’t anything special and I felt a bit embarrassed having Silena there. She is a daughter of Aphrodite whose dad is a famous Chocolatier and I bring her to my mom’s messy car repair. I know I shouldn’t think like that but I still did.

I looked at Silena and awaited a polite smile and some words of how ‘unique’ it was but that wasn’t the case. Silena looked a bit amazed at my mom’s shop.

“Is this the place?” she said and looked at me. I nodded slowly. She turned back to the shop and I could swear that I heard her mutter ‘this place is so cool’.

I opened the door and went into the store with Silena close behind me. The bell that signals a customer rang and my mom looked up from what she was working on. Her natural hair was shorter than the last time I saw her and it had gone grey in a few places but other than that she looked the same. Her face went through so many different emotions in just a second. Shock, fear, disbelief and lastly: hope. She ran towards me and hugged me so hard that I thought my ribs would break. My mom started crying which made me cry too. After a long while, she let me go, but she still had her hands on my shoulders; gripping them tightly as if to make sure that I was actually there and not just an illusion.

“I thought… I-I felt you… You were gone… My son was…”

My mother’s voice was thick and raspy. She had tears streaming from her eyes and her eyes darted all over my face. Now that I could see her up close I saw the bags under her eyes and how her face had gotten thinner.

“I know, mom,” I said holding her face in my hands. “But I’m here now. I’m here again.”

After my mom had calmed down a bit she noticed Silena standing behind me. Silena had given us some space and she had a smile on her face. She had a few tears in her eyes too and she looked at my mom and me happily. My mom dried her tears and went over to Silena.

“I’m sorry for us appearing so suddenly,” Silena said politely. “But we just came ba-“

Her sentence got cut short by my mother hugging her. Silena seemed a bit surprised but quickly hugged her back. Eventually, my mom let go.

“You must be Silena Beauregard,” my mom said with a smile. “My Charlie has told me so much about you.” Her words made me blush a lot and I let out a series of scrambled words of defiance that didn’t make sense. Silena giggled at my embarrassment and started talking to my mom. They seemed to get along which I was glad for, it would be bad if Silena couldn’t get along with her mother-in-law.

Wait what!?

That thought came out of nowhere and I wanted to slap my face. There was absolutely nothing saying that Silena was ever going to marry me and I can’t believe that I thought like that.

Silena and I ended up staying at my house for a few days to rest up, get some new clothes and to be able to relax (“But don’t be too relaxed”, my mother warned. “I’m only 47 I don’t need grandkids yet.” “MOM!” “Don’t worry Charlie, I trust that you two know how to be safe.” “MOM STOP.” “You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed.” “Not you too Silena.”)

It felt so nice to have my mom’s cooking and to be at home with my favourite girls but I knew that Silena and I eventually had to get to camp to tell them we were alive.

When I told my mom that we needed to leave she cried. I can’t even imagine how much it hurt to see your son who you thought were dead for two years and then to have to let him leave after a few days. I felt so bad when we left but I knew that it was necessary. Before we left though I promised my mom that I would come back. I think that only made her cry harder.

After we had visited my mom we headed towards Silena’s dad’s chocolate shop in Charlotte, North Carolina. We took a bus this time too even though mom offered to lend us her car. The smartest thing would’ve probably been to take the car but we took the bus just in case we got attacked by monsters.

The bus ride wasn’t as long as last time, it only took around 3 hours, but Silena still managed to fall asleep on my shoulder. She looked so cute that I didn’t want to wake her up.

Eventually, we arrived in Charlotte and made our way over to Silena’s dad’s shop. I would’ve probably gotten lost a million times over if I didn’t have Silena showing me the way. We eventually made our way over to a small shop that had a sign over it that said “Boutique de chocolat Beauregards”.

“French?” I said and looked at Silena. She blushed and seemed to be embarrassed.

“Well, you know how my family is French… Dad sort of takes that very seriously...”

Silena opened the door and a wave of cold and the smell of chocolate overwhelmed me as I followed her into the shop. I almost walked into Silena who had stopped. I wanted to ask what was wrong until I saw what she was staring at. I followed her line of sight and my eyes landed on a man who stood behind the counter staring at us. His hair was as dark as Silena’s but he had grey streaks running through it and a salt and pepper beard. It was clear that it was her dad.

He slowly got out from around the counter and approached us. He had tears in his eyes and he hugged Silena tightly. She let out a sob and buried her face into his shoulder. She often complained about her dad but I knew that she missed him a lot. Eventually, Silena’s dad let go and looked over at me. His eyes were chocolate brown just like Silena’s were sometimes.

“Were you the one who brought my daughter back to me?” he asked, his voice thick.

“Yes, sir” I answered and gave him what I hoped was a polite smile. I didn’t really know how he would react and I was shocked to say the least when he hugged me.

“Thank you, boy” he said when he let go of me. “Thank you.”

I felt a bit embarrassed and when Silena linked her arm through mine I felt even more embarrassed. I’m okay with PDA but mostly when it’s just me and Silena.

“Dad,” Silena said and leaned into my shoulder. “This is my boyfriend, Charles Beckendorf.” Her dad looked confused for a second before smiling at us. “Well, Silena it seems like he will be a wonderful son-in-law.”

Silena blushed furiously at this and told her dad to stop messing around. Her dad only chuckled and winked at me before getting some chocolate for us. Could he tell that I was thinking of having a future with her someday?

Once again Silena and I stayed for a few days before moving on. Her dad cried when we left but just as I’d told my mom Silena promised that we’d come back. Silena’s dad had given us some money for the trip, some of Silena’s favourite clothes and jewellery and some chocolate. Silena was right, his chocolate really tasted like cardboard.

Once again we took a bus to our next destination. The bus only went as far as to Richmond, Virginia so when we got there we’d have to take another bus or train to Long Island. The bus ride went fine and we got to Virginia quicker than expected.

We were walking along the streets of Richmond in search of a bus stop when we heard two teenagers talking about demigods and ‘Getting to camp Jupiter’. We decided to follow them for a bit if only out of curiosity, which proved to be a very vital decision in the long run.


	8. CHAPTER 7, A demigod alley cat

SILENA

When we stumbled upon two demigods in an alley near Main Street station Charlie and I were a bit surprised. Sure, it wasn't uncommon to find demigods who hadn't made it to camp yet but it still felt like a surprise. They had introduced themselves as Desirée and Dylan and I have to say that they made a bit of an odd pair. Dylan was tall, handsome and powerful, with eyes that reminded me a lot of a guy I used to know. She had box braids pulled up into a bun at the top of her head and she wore simple plain clothes. Desirée on the other hand was a bit more eccentric in her outfit choice. She wore an indigo down jacket and a pair of jeans that ended halfway down her calf. She also wore navy blue sneakers and she had glasses that were too big for her face. Her hair was frizzy and pulled into a ponytail to keep it out of her face. They were really an odd pair.

But I suppose the same could be said for me and Charlie.

"Why do you know about Camp Jupiter?" Dylan asked. It was clear that she didn't trust us at all, and I couldn't blame her. Here we are, two strangers, asking if they're demigods. Maybe we should've thought this through a bit more.

"We're demigods, like you," Charlie said. "We're not from Camp Jupiter though. We're from another camp in Long Island called Camp Half-Blood." When Charlie said that something flashed in Dylan's eyes. She seemed to consider what he said and I think she came to a conclusion.

"Can you take us there?"

I was a bit shocked. One second ago she was about to slash us open and now she wanted our help. I have to say that I preferred this turn of events.

"Wait what?" Desirée said and looked at Dylan. "I thought we were going to Camp Jupiter?" Desirée's face looked like a question mark.

Dylan let out a small sigh and turned to Desirée. There was an emotion I couldn't really understand on her face and I couldn't really tell what it meant. At least not from her face. I could sense her emotion in the moment. She was hopeful, but also scared.

"Look Des," Dylan said. "Camp Jupiter is in San Francisco, which is 40 hours from here. Now if this 'Camp Half-Blood really exists it would only be around 6 hours to get there." Dylan looked at Desirée with a determined look. "And if we're going to get you somewhere safe we're going to do it the quickest way possible."

I noticed that she said 'Get you somewhere safe' and not 'Get us somewhere safe'. I instantly got worried about her. I could be worrying about nothing but I had met a lot of demigods who thought they weren't worthy of being safe. It broke my heart every time I heard someone saying that they shouldn't be at camp. It's not their fault they are demigods! It's the gods' fault. If they weren't so carele-

I hadn't realised how much Luke had influenced me.

Charlie must have sensed that something was wrong because he timidly put his arm around me. Whenever I think that I can't love him more than I already do he proves me wrong.

Des seemed to be evaluating the options. Travel 40 hours to get to a place her friend knew was safe or trust two strangers and travel 6 hours to Long Island.

"Okay," Desirée said. "If you're able to, please take us to Camp Half-Blood." I gave Desirée a smile that I hoped was encouraging. She smiled back at me and we walked out of the valley together.

On the way to the train station Dylan was quiet and on edge whilst Desirée eagerly talked to Charlie and me. She asked a million questions about camp and her excitement and wonder was refreshing.

We eventually got to Main Street station and went to look for tickets. I hadn't noticed that someone was following us but Dylan apparently had.

"Hey!" I heard someone call out behind me. I quickly turned around and it took a while for my brain to process the scene before me.

Dylan was holding a thin teenage boy by the neck of his sweater high up into the air. The boy flailed his arm trying to get away from her by Dylan was obviously both taller and stronger.

"Dylan!" I exclaimed. "Put him down! People are staring." A few people had stopped to look at what was happening. Dylan did as I said, albeit reluctantly. She put him down on the ground but she made sure that he couldn't run away. Now that he wasn't flailing around it was easier to get a good look at him. He was a thin Filipino guy that seemed to be about 15 years old. He had long curly hair that reached to his shoulders, sort of like Debra Winger in that 80's film "Urban Cowboy". His hair was a dark reddish brown that seemed to be the same colour as the thin oversized jumper he was wearing. Torn black jeans hung loosely on his skinny legs and his black shoes looked more brown then black. He looked like an alley cat in desperate need of help.

"Can I ask why you suddenly grabbed some boy by the neck?" I asked Dylan and crossed my arms. She had a frown on her face that disappeared almost as soon as it came.

"This boy tried to steal money from your bag," she said simply. The boy looked sheepish, but there was something in my gut telling me that he wasn't sorry at all. He reminded me of someone but I couldn't figure out who.

"Sorry," he said and looked at me with something that resembled puppy eyes.

Oh no, I am so not falling for that. I realized who he reminded me off. Well, it wasn't as much of a 'who' but more like multiple people. I had seen that look a million times on the faces of Connor and Travis Stoll, along with the other Hermes kids. This boy was definitely one of Hermes'. Charlie leaned close to my ear.

"Doesn't he remind you of Connor and Travis?" he whispered. I nodded and he seemed relieved. "What are we going to do?" I asked him. "We can't just kidnap some kid because we think he might be a demigod." Charlie looked troubled for a second until Desirée cleared her throat.

"Sooo... Are we gonna let this kid go or what?" she asked looking from Charlie to me and then back again. I had to think for a second. We couldn't just kidnap someone because we thought he might be a demigod but if we were right...

The boy cleared his throat which got all of our attention.

"Hey this has been fun and all but I think I should go." He gave us a smile and started to walk away, but Dylan stopped him. She grabbed his arm and turned to look at Charlie.

"Does this kid seem like one of Mer- Hermes' to you? Cause he does to me."

I was a bit relieved that she was on the same page as us.

"Wait a second here," the boy said and put his hands up in a 'time-out' motion.

"Hermes? Like the god? Is that some like mafia boss or something?" He laughed but quickly stopped when we weren't laughing along.

"Wait is he? Oh gods is the Mafia after me? I haven-"

I gave him a small smile that I hoped was comforting.

"Hermes is not a mafia boss," I said. I could've sworn that Dylan muttered something along the lines of 'As far as we know at least'. I chose to ignore her.

"So like what? Hermes the Greek god then?" the kid said and gave us a nervous laugh. He stopped and looked at us with wide eyes.

"You can't be serious," he exclaimed. "You are all crazy," he said and tried to back away but Dylan's grip was made of iron.

"Listen," Charlie said. "I know we sound crazy. But it's true." His face was stern and serious, and there was a commanding tone in his voice.

He was showing a side of him that I loved. He was acting as a leader.

"Have you ever experienced something that you can't explain? Something that seemed like it came straight out of a fantasy film?"

The boy's face paled and he just stared at Charlie. He looked so scared and I just wanted to give him a hug.

"So what if I have," he whispered. 

Dylan, Charlie, Desirée and I looked at each other. If he was telling the truth we had to take him to camp too.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

"Jake," he said quietly. "Jake Castro."

"Well Jake," Dylan said and let go of him. "You've got a decision to make here." Jake looked at her, confused.

"We're on our way to a demigod safe heaven and if you want to you can tag along," Desirée said. "But you should probably talk to your parents first cause I don't think I'm okay with kidnapping someone." I could swear that Dylan was about so say 'I am'.

Jake's face turned blank for a second but quickly changed to nonchalant.

"I've got no parents so I'll just tag along."

I couldn't tell if he was lying or not but I could sense sadness coming from him. My heart became heavy and I knew that we needed to help him.

We explained a bit more about Camp Half-Blood to Jake and he took it pretty okay. We made our way over to the ticket booth and got tickets for a train to Long Island Sound.

We were almost home.


	9. Chapter 8, We get attacked by evil pigeons

JAKE

Did I think that these people were crazy? Yes. Did I care? Not at all. Was I thankful that I had a girl with a sword with me when monsters started chasing us? Yes, yes I was.

The train ride from Richmond to Long Island wasn’t that eventful. I got to know people’s names and who their godly parents were (which I still thought was an absolute lie then by the way) and general facts about how these gods functioned in modern society. It didn’t make sense at all but I decided to go with it. Most people probably wouldn’t have followed some strangers who rambled about gods but I’m not most people. I had nothing better to do, so why not do something stupid. That’s what I told myself anyway.

 

I was not prepared when some massive birds attacked us.

When we got to the train station we bought tickets for a bus that Beckendorf said would take us to this ‘Camp Half-Blood’. We got onto the bus and things went pretty smoothly. There weren’t a lot of people and those who were there were tourists who were on their way to the Montauk Point lighthouse. I was really hungry so I hoped that they had some good food at camp. Silena and Beckendorf talked in low voices about the people at camp and I heard things that sounded like ‘wonder if the harpies have eaten anyone’ and ‘I hope they fixed the dragon’.

I decided not to ask what that was about.

Dylan sat close to the window and she looked out of it, seeming to be lost in thought. I’m not gonna lie to you; she scared me. A lot. She was tall and she had this aura of ‘Mess with me and you will not see the end of the day’. From what I had gathered so far she wasn’t actually going to this camp but was instead just Desirée’s escort. I was kind of jealous of Des. Who wouldn’t want Dylan as their bodyguard?

I got dragged out of my thoughts by the bus swerving off the road. It was around midnight so I couldn’t see anything which meant that I had no idea what was going on. I would have probably stayed on the bus if it wasn’t for Silena dragging me out of there. We all got out of the bus and saw what had made it go off the road. A flock of massive birds with bronze beaks were tearing through the walls and ceiling. They were looking for something but I couldn’t figure out what. Until they spotted us that is. One of them made a beeline for me and I would have been bird food if Dylan hadn’t impaled it with a sword. Where she got it from I had no idea but I was glad that she had it. The bird exploded into a cloud of gold dust which I did not expect. Another bird flew towards us and Dylan destroyed it once again, this time giving me a better look at her sword. It was mostly white but shifted into different colours when she moved it. It was smooth and seemed almost transparent, like a seashell or a pearl. It was also covered in monster dust.

I wanted that sword.

“Silena!” Dylan screamed over the sound of the shrieking birds. ”How far is it to camp!?”

“Only like 600 feet!”

“Hurry up then!”

We all started running as fast as we could away from the birds. Silena led the way with me and Des close behind. Dylan and Beckendorf were occupied with keeping us safe from the birds so they were a bit farther behind.

“What are those!?” Des asked. She seemed to be a bit out of breath and I couldn’t blame her. We had been sitting still for the last 6 hours and now we were suddenly running for our lives.

“Stymphalian birds!” Silena said, running even faster. How could she run that fast!?

“Stym- what now!?”

“They’re birds with beaks made out of celestial bronze!” Silena explained. “Their beaks are strong enough to tear through flesh so if you don’t want to get skinned to the bone I suggest that you run even faster!”

I didn’t even think it was possible but somehow I managed to run even faster. I was a pretty good runner so I didn’t have any problem keeping up with Silena.

“There!” Silena suddenly screamed. She was pointing at a hill with a massive pine tree on it and made a beeline for it. I quickly followed her and the rest did the same. Des was lagging behind a bit so I grabbed her hand and dragged her along. When we got closer to the tree I could see two people walking with weapons and armour. They seemed to be fighting but the birds were too loud for me to hear them. It almost seemed like they were patrolling but I don’t get why they did that in the middle of the night.

One of them spotted us, said something to the other and then started running our way. The other one stayed behind, albeit angrily. The one who had spotted us ran past us and his eyes looked suspiciously similar to Dylan’s. Did she have family here?

Silena, I and Des made it up to the top of hill and ran past the tree and the armour clad person standing there. It felt as if I had just passed through some sort of barrier and it was a lot warmer on the other side of the tree; the air wasn’t nearly as cold here as it was on the bottom of the hill. Now that there wasn’t an imitate danger I let go of Des and my legs gave out. Even if I’m a good runner doing a 600 feet sprint isn’t really what I’m used to. I landed face first into soft grass and I wouldn’t have gotten up if I hadn’t heard a loud gasp. I sat up and turned my head towards the sound. The armoured person was staring at Silena with tears in her eyes and her spear had fallen to the ground. Silena stood and stared at the girl with tears streaming down her face.

“Silena?” the girl in the armour said quietly, tears streaming down her face as well.

“It’s me Clarisse,” Silena said in a thick voice. “I’m here.”

The girl, whose name was apparently Clarisse, grabbed Silena into a bear hug and fell down on her knees. Silena hugged her back, sobbing. Something told me these two knew each other.

“Clarisse?”

A blonde girl had approached us and look confusedly at Clarisse. “Who is it? Is that someone you know?”

Clarisse let go of Silena and Silena turned towards the blonde girl.

“Hey Annabeth,” Silena said, her voice happy and sad at the same time. The girl named Annabeth froze up and tears started building in her eyes. She approached Silena slowly and sank down on her knees.

“Is it… is it really you?” She asked and stretched out a hand towards Silena. Silena grabbed her and squeezed it lightly.

“Yes Annabeth. It’s really me.” The tears in Annabeth’s eyes fell and she pulled Silena into a hug. She obviously also knew Silena.

“Clarisse!” someone yelled, there voice also sounding thick. “You won’t believe this!”

I looked towards the way the yelling came from and saw Dylan, Beckendorf and some guy with black messy hair standing by the pine tree. None of them seemed hurt but Dylan’s eyes had turned from blue-ish green to brown. I had no idea why and I had no energy to think about it.

“Clarisse! Beckendorf he’s-“

The boy got quiet when he saw Annabeth and Silena. Silena reluctantly let go of Annabeth and stood up. She turned towards the boy.

“Hi Percy,” she said with a smile, tears still running down her face. Percy ran towards Silena and tackled her into a hug, Dylan and Beckendorf not too far behind him. Percy eventually let go of her and stood beside Annabeth instead. Beckendorf took his place beside Silena whilst Clarisse stood on Silena’s other side. It looked kind of funny how this small pretty girl had two massive muscular people beside her. Dylan, I and Des stood awkwardly to the side whilst the five of them caught up with each other. They all seemed so happy to see each other and I felt happy for them, but at the same time my chest ached.

Why is he here?

He’s going to give this place a bad reputation.

They should just lock him up already

Poor thing, his mom ruined his life

No one’s going to adopt him.

Go away!

He’s probably a thief too

I’m sorry, kiddo

I pushed away the voices in my head and tried to focus on something else. I looked around and I saw Dylan walking away from us. She was already halfway down the hill, walking towards the road.

“Hey! Wait up!” I yelled after her but she didn’t stop. The others had reacted to my yelling and they saw Dylan walking away too.

“Hey! You can’t just leave now!” Des screamed and ran after her. Silena and I quickly followed whilst Annabeth, Beckendorf, Percy and Clarisse stayed behind. I heard them say something about a prophecy but I wasn’t too focused on it.

Des had caught up to Dylan and she had a tight grip on the taller girl’s arm. Silena and I made our way towards them and heard them arguing. They paid no attention to us which I was sort of glad about cause that meant that we could eavesdrop on whatever they were saying.

“Des let me go,” Dylan said quietly. “The deal was that I would take you to somewhere safe and I have so let go.” Des looked hurt but she refused to let go.

“Why do you have to go?” Des asked. “If this place really is safe for demigods, shouldn’t you stay too? This place seems pretty cool to me.”

Dylan tore her arm away and Des looked shocked.

“Look Desirée, our deal was that I would get you somewhere safe and now I have. I need to get home now.”

Des backed away.

“I know that you said that people don’t like you and stuff but maybe they do here. Why not give it a shot?”

Dylan looked as if she wanted to listen to Des’ words but she turned around and started walking away again.

“I don’t want to take any chances about this,” she muttered. I didn’t know what her deal was but something had definitely happened in the past. I could recognise a damaged soul when I saw one and she definitely had some baggage.

“Dylan, please wait,” Silena said and went after her. “Desirée, Jake, you guys should probably get some sleep. It’s been an eventful six hours.” Des looked reluctant to go but I was dead tired so I took her hand and led her back up the hill. When we got to the top of hill my legs gave out again. I fell to the ground and decided that it was a nice enough sleeping place. Des seemed to have the same idea because she curled up on the grass beside me. It didn’t take long until I fell asleep.


	10. CHAPTER 9, Maybe camp isn’t that bad

DYLAN

I just wanted to get home. It had been a long day and frankly I needed some time alone.

I could hear Silena calling for me but I ignored her. I had made it clear before that I was merely escorting Des and I wouldn’t stay at camp.

I felt drained after all the fighting that had happened. I hadn’t fought this much for a long time and I could definitely feel it. I headed towards the road we came from but didn’t get far until Silena caught up to me.

“Dylan, wait.” She grabbed my arm and I have to give it to her- she has a lot of upper arm strength for someone so small. I stopped and turned towards her. I didn’t really care what she was going to say, I just wanted to get home. She let go of my arm and stepped back a bit.

“What it is?”

“What is it? Well you were just leaving all of a sudden and I don’t understand why,” she said.

“Well, I didn’t plan on staying. I’ve gotta get home to my moms’.”

Silena nodded quietly and she seemed to think for a second before she spoke again.

“Before you go, can I ask why you’re eyes have changed colour?”

Oh. I had hoped that no one would notice.

I realised pretty quickly that my eyes could be a dead giveaway for who my dad was, so I learned how to change the colour of them. Well, not actually changing the colour. I just used the mist to make them seem to be a more regular colour.

“What do you mean?”

It was obvious that she wouldn’t fall for my lie but it’s worth a try.

“You’re eyes. They looked like that boy’s back there. You know, the boy with the black messy hair?” I nodded. “Well, his eyes looked almost exactly like yours. And the reason his eyes look like that is because he is the son of Poseidon. The sea god.” I nodded once again. “I’m sorry if I’m intruding but I think you might be related to him too.”

I gave her a nod that was supposed to mean ‘Cool theory but I’ve got to go’. I turned around and started walking again.

“Wait!” Silena grabbed my arm again. Okay, I’m starting to get really tired of people grabbing my arms.

“What is it now?” I sighed and turned around once again. She looked slightly irritated but I didn’t really care right now. I’d had enough of demigods for today.

“Your dad is not Poseidon, right? It’s Neptune isn’t it?”

There wasn’t really anything terrifying about Silena so I just decided to do as she wanted. But I still held up the illusion around my eyes.

“Yeah, that’s right. Can I go now?”

Even though she had guessed it she looked shocked. She composed herself and she looked determined.

“I think you should stay here at camp. If you’re a daughter of Neptune then it would be dangerous for you to go home.”

“Yeah I know, but I’ve been fine for 16 years so I think that I’ll be okay.” She lost her composure again but I had to admire her for not stepping down.

“Okay.” She said nodded. “But would it be okay if you talked to Chiron? He’s our camp leader and I think he would like to know that there’s a daughter of Neptune.” I shifted my feet a bit and sighed.

“Well, the thing is, I don’t really want anyone to know that I’m the daughter of Neptune. So it would be better if I didn’t talk to Chiron.”

She looked like she was about to give up and I felt kind of bad for her. I’m not really the easiest to convince.

“Well, could you at least stay the night here? It’s in the middle of the night and I don’t think it would be safe to travel alone right now.”

She had a point. Monsters I could handle, but people acting like monsters? Not really. I’d just have to text my mom that I would be home in the morning.

“Fine. But only for the night.” She gave me a bright smile and she started walking back to camp.

“But you have to promise me that you won’t tell anyone about my dad,” I said and followed her.

“Don’t worry, I won’t out you.” She sounded quite happy and I became a bit suspicious. Sure, she seemed super nice and all but she was extremely persistent about me staying. My worries subsided when I came to the conclusion that if she really had some scheme in mind I could easily win a fight against her.

When we got to the top of the hill we found Des and Jake sleeping on the ground. Jake was curled into a ball and he reminded me a lot of my old cat Samson. Des, on the other hand, was sprawled out like a starfish and was snoring softly. I chuckled at the sight and I could hear Silena giggle beside me. We made eye contact and we didn’t have to say anything. I picked up Jake slowly and carried him bridal style. He snuggled close to my chest and I had to admit that it was really cute. I don’t feel any sort of physical attraction towards people but Jake was really cute when he did that. Silena had quietly woken up Des so that she could get on her back. Des got on Silena’s back, barely awake, and fell asleep as soon Silena started walking. I noticed that it was a lot warmer once we passed the hill and I wondered how that was possible.

“Where are we going?” I whispered quietly so that I wouldn’t wake up the sleeping kids.

“The Hermes cabin,” Silena whispered back. “That’s were every unclaimed camper stays and I’m pretty sure that there are some unoccupied beds. Most people also just stay here during summer so there should be even more unoccupied beds because of that.”

I nodded and we continued the walk to the Hermes cabin in silence. On our way there I managed to get a good look at the camp. There was a big blue house that was easily visible from the hill and there was a volleyball court close to it. Even though I had only seen an extremely small part of Camp Half-Blood I could already tell that this place was way different than Camp Jupiter. This place felt more like a fun summer camp than Camp Jupiter could ever dream of. I wondered if I would have such a distaste for the godly part of my life if I had come here instead.

We walked past the big house and made our way over to cabins that stood in a rectangle formation. Every cabin looked different and Silena quietly explained that each cabin was designed for a different god. She led me towards a cabin that looked pretty shabby. It had brown paint that was peeling off and it really needed to be renovated. Silena had a look of irritation on her face when she saw the building but it quickly disappeared.

Silena tried to quietly open the door but it creaked loudly. We hurried in and I hoped that we hadn’t woken anyone up.

To quote Cher from ‘Clueless’: As if!

There weren’t a lot of people in the cabin but those who were in there starting stirring. A boy with curly brown hair sat up in his bed and looked at us. His blue eyes were half open but as soon as he laid eyes on Silena he looked wide awake. He got up from his bed and slowly made his way over to her. His footsteps were soundless and when he came closer I could see some similarities between him and Jake.

“Silena?” the boy whispered. He had tears in his eyes and he looked as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Yes, Connor. It’s me,” Silena said with a smile.

The boy, whose name apparently was Connor, made a move to hug her but stopped when he noticed Des on her back. He helped her put Des down on an unoccupied bed and pointed me towards a bed for Jake. I put Jake down and as soon as I did he let out an almost inaudible whimper. He curled into his blankets and I walked back to Silena and Connor who were now hugging each other. How popular was she and why are people so shocked when they see her?

Silena let go of Connor and wiped away some tears.

“Connor, this is Dylan,” she said and pointed at me. “She’ll be staying here for the night if that’s okay.”

“Uh, yeah, sure.” He said and nodded nervously. I’m not sure but I think he might’ve been scared by me. “So you’re a demigod, huh?”

I nodded.

“Cool,” he said. “So am I. Connor Stoll’s the name. My dad’s the god of thieves so if I were you I’d keep a close eye on that backpack.”

I rolled my eyes at his words and asked if there was a bed I could borrow for the night. He pointed towards one in the far back of the cabin and I made my way over to it; leaving Silena and him alone so that they could talk. The bed wasn’t the fanciest thing in the world but it was comfortable enough for one night. I crept into bed and tried to fall asleep.

Keyword tried.

I didn’t exactly feel comfortable being in a cabin with a bunch of demigods and that made it difficult to sleep. I laid there with my eyes closed, trying to relax when I accidentally eavesdropped on Silena and Connor’s conversation.

“Silena, how…” Connor said, his voice full of disbelief. “You died… You died in Clarisse’s arms. And Beckendorf... Is he..? Is he back too?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Silena had died? When? How? And had Charlie also died? I decided to keep listening.

“I don’t really know how but about eight months ago I woke up on a beach in Greece. After a while, Charlie appeared beside me and he didn’t have a clue either. We are pretty sure that Gaea tried to revive us so that we’d join her in taking down the gods.” Okay, so mother earth had revived two demigods so that they would help her take down their parents. Neat.

“How did you get here?” Connor asked. “Did my dad help you? Or did your mom help or..?”

“I don’t know, maybe. No one directly interfered but there is a chance we had help.” Silena proceeded to tell Connor about how she and Beckendorf had travelled from Greece to Long Island Sound and how they’d met Des, Jake and I.

“Woah…” Connor whispered. That was basically my response too.

“Silena,” he said. “There is something you and Beckendorf have got to talk to Chiron about tomorrow. And bring the kids you came here with too.” Silena agreed with him and it sounded like she was walking out of the cabin until her footsteps stopped and then came closer. I could smell her flowery and chocolaty perfume surrounding my bed and I could feel her stroking my hair. It was such an odd gesture but I appreciated it. The way she stroked my hair felt like the exact way my mom used to do it when I couldn’t sleep. It felt comforting and I wondered if Silena knew that. I could feel my body starting to relax and my mind descending into sleep. The last thing I heard was the creaking door closing before my mind drifted away.


	11. CHAPTER 10, I scare some Hermes kids

DYLAN

When I woke up I was disoriented. I thought that I had been kidnapped for a second before I remembered that I was at ‘Camp Half-Blood’ and that I fell asleep in the Hermes cabin. Also, I had had some strange dream which I couldn’t make any sense of. There wasn’t any sort of coherency at all. I guess that’s what comes with being a demigod though.

I slowly made my way up from the bed and looked around the cabin. Jake and Des were still sleeping but it seemed like they were the only ones. Aside from Jake, Des and I, there were two other girls in the cabin. They were on the ground whispering and it seemed like they hadn’t noticed me waking up. They were messing around with something and seeing as I couldn’t find my backpack I could guess what it was.

I quietly made my way over to them and proceeded to loom over them. Did I do it to scare them? Yes. Do I regret it? Not really.

“What are you doing?” I asked and the girls jumped. They looked up at me and tried to come up with something to say. They looked completely terrified and I would be lying if I said that I didn’t enjoy it. I was right about them messing with my bag so I say my actions were justified.

“Uh- h-hi yeah we weren’t any- weren’t doing anything,” one of them said. I tried really hard not to laugh at her expression.

“Could I have my bag back?”

They scrambled away from the bag and I picked it up.

“Thank you,” I said and walked back to my bed. I put the bag down and pulled off my sweater. It was incredibly warm here and I couldn’t wear it for a second longer. I tied it around my hips, put on my backpack and walked out of the cabin.

There were a bit more people outside now than last night. I guess because they were sleeping when we got there. I was going to say goodbye to Silena and the others before leaving and maybe manage to get some breakfast. I hadn’t eaten since I had that yoghurt at Des’ place and I was starving.

I made my way through the field of cabins with a lot of staring. Some boys sat and gossiped on the porch of a cabin that looked more like a dollhouse. As soon as I walked by they got quiet and stared me up and down as if they couldn’t believe their eyes. It was annoying.

I walked past them and made my way over to some Greek columns on top of a hill. I had heard a lot of voices coming from there so it would probably be the best place to find someone who knew where Silena was. The columns formed a sort of a room but it didn’t have any roof or walls, which seemed kind of stupid. What do they do if it starts raining? What happens if it starts storming? I guess they hadn’t had any good architects working on this structure.

Inside the columns were a lot of tables with white cloth over them. There were a lot of kids of different ages sitting by the tables; eating breakfast and talking. At first, no one paid my any mind, which was nice, but then Beckendorf spotted me. He tapped Silena’s shoulder and pointed towards me. Silena saw me and broke into a smile.

“Dylan!” she called out and walked over to me. Great, now everyone’s staring.

She looked even prettier than she did yesterday. Her long dark was pulled up into a bun with a pink ribbon around it and she wore a nice pink dress. Beckendorf looked better today too.

“Did you sleep well?” Silena asked and pulled me into a hug. I’m not the biggest fan of getting hugs from strangers and I think Silena could tell. She let go of me and stood beside Beckendorf.

“Yeah, I did. Thanks for letting me stay for the night.”

Silena waved her hand in a ‘Don’t worry about it’ gesture. I fiddled slightly with the straps of my bag. People were still staring. I think Silena could sense my unease because she stared down the crowd that had gathered. They quickly turned away and continued eating.

I scratched my neck slightly. It should be easy to say goodbye and leave but it wasn’t.

“Anyhow, thank you for helping me get Des so a safe place. I just came here to say goodbye. So, uh, goodbye.”

Silena’s smile fell and she and Beckendorf looked at each other.

“About that,” he said. “You can’t leave just yet. We, uh, sort of need to tell you, Des and Jake something.”

I quickly got defensive. What could they possibly want to tell us? Was it something about that last night?

“Tell us what?” a voice said behind me. I looked behind me and saw a very sleepy Des and Jake. Jake’s hair was a curly mess and he looked like he would fall asleep right there. Des didn’t look much better. Her hair was just as much of a mess as Jake’s and her glasses hung crookedly on her face.

That wasn’t the first thing I saw when I looked at them though. What first caught my eye was two glowing symbols above their heads. Over Des’ head, there was a golden hologram of sheaths of wheat and a sickle whilst over Jake, there was a glowing caduceus.

Mercury and ce- I mean Hermes and Demeter.

They had been claimed.


	12. CHAPTER 11, I meet a demigod PT

DESIRÉE

It was only a few minutes ago that Jake had woken me up by pushing me out of bed. Which hurt. A lot. I had forgotten where I was until I remembered what had happened last night. But even though I could remember most of what had happened yesterday I couldn’t remember how I made it from a hill to some random bed. My best guess was that someone carried me.

Jake and I were both extremely hungry so we tried to find some food. We eventually made our way to some large columns on top of a hill where we found Silena, Beckendorf, and Dyl.

And now everyone was staring at us. I had no idea why until I looked over at Jake. He had a glowing symbol over his head. I didn’t really know what it was but it looked like those snake staff things they have at hospitals. When I looked at Jake I realized that he was staring at me too, Or, well, above me. I looked up and saw another glowing symbol. My symbol was of pieces of wheat and some sort of small scythe. Sickle, a voice in the back of my head said. It’s a type of agriculture tool used for harvesting.

I don’t know how I knew that but I decided that I had probably learned it in school.

“Uh, why’s there glowing wheat over my head?” I asked and looked over at the others. Silena and Beckendorf looked a bit shocked but Dylan just had an ‘I told you so’ look on her face.

“You’ve been claimed,” she said with a smug smile on her face. “Congratulations, Desirée Santiago, Daughter of Demeter and Jake Castro son of Hermes.”

The people inside of the column thing burst into applause. I felt really embarrassed and I think Jake did too, but he also looked somewhat relieved for some reason. The applause eventually quieted down and Dylan’s smile disappeared. Silena and Beckendorf looked serious and it made me feel nervous.

“Uh, hey guys, is something wrong? Is being claimed not good? Oh my gods we’re in trouble aren’t we oh go-“

“Calm down Desirée, being claimed is a good thing,” Silena said and smiled. “But there is something we have to tell you, and fast.”

I knew that I should focus on that thing they were gonna tell us about but I honestly couldn’t focus on anything other than breakfast. My stomach rumbled and Silena giggled a bit.

“We have to tell you quickly, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have breakfast first.”

We all had some awesome breakfast together before heading to a big blue house that looked eerily similar to the one in “Bear in the Big Blue House”. Not that I would know anything about that show obviously.

Beckendorf and Silena led us in through the front door and then into a room with a big ping pong table in the middle. Around the table were the kids we had met yesterday, (Annabeth, Percy and Clarisse I think?) a girl with fiery red hair and a man in a wheelchair. I still had no idea who these people were but I could sense that they were powerful.

“Silena! Beckendorf! Took ‘ya long enough,” a girl with a red bandana, Clarisse, said and smiled smugly. Silena just rolled her eyes and we all gathered around the ping pong table. Now, I don’t really understand why we were gathered around a ping pong table but I wasn’t complaining.

“Have you filled them in?” the blonde girl, Annabeth, asked. Silena and Beckendorf shook their heads and Annabeth nodded slightly. She turned to look at me, Dylan and Jake and I felt a chill run up my spine. She had intense grey eyes and something told me that I should absolutely NOT mess with her.

“I suppose we should introduce ourselves before we discuss the prophecy.” Prophecy?

“My name is Annabeth Chase,” she said. “My mother is Athena and I’m the counselor of cabin six.” She pointed towards the guy with messy black hair we’d met yesterday.

“This is my boyfriend, Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon.” Percy waved slightly and he looked quite uncomfortable being around us. He felt oddly familiar and then it hit me that he was sort of Dyl’s half-brother. He expelled the same aura as her and I’d be lying if I said he didn’t scare me.

“I’m Clarisse La Rue, daughter of Ares,” the girl with the red bandana said. She also scared me. We should probably just establish that everyone at this place scares me.

“I’m Rachel Elizabeth Dare,” the girl with the fiery red hair said. She had paint stains all over her and she seemed to be a bit out of it. “I’m not a demigod or anything but I’m the hostess of the oracle of Delphi. I’m the Oracle, basically.” Oh, well that explains why she seems a bit out of it.

“My name is Chiron,” the man in the wheelchair said. He had kind brown eyes and he looked pretty harmless. “I run this ca-“

“Hold up,” Dylan said and everyone turned to look at her. Something like recollection flashed in Chiron’s eyes when he looked at Dylan. “Chiron? As in that Chiron? The one who trained basically every important Greek hero?” Chiron nodded and he looked quite embarrassed. I don’t know why though, I think training every Greek hero is something to be proud about.

“Okay. Cool, I guess,” Dylan said and crossed her arms.

“Well, you already know us,” Silena said with a small smile. “So I think it’s your turn to introduce yourselves.” She looked over at us and Jake introduced himself.

“I’m Jake Castro. Son of Hermes.” He made his introduction quick and he seemed a bit scared of everyone here.

“I’m Desirée Santiago,” I said and smiled slightly. “And I’m the daughter of Demeter I guess.” Percy smiled slightly at me and it felt amazing.

“Dylan Jones,” Dylan said. “Don’t worry about my godly parent, I’m leaving soon anyway.” Annabeth frowned and it looked like she was going to say something but Percy stopped her by grabbing her hand. He shook his head slightly and she nodded. They seemed to be able to understand each other without speaking and it was really cool.

“Well now that the introductions are done,” Annabeth said. “We need to talk about the prophecy. Rachel, do you mind?” Rachel shrugged and turned towards us.

“Okay, so, a few weeks ago I had a prophecy that I think was about you guys.”

She recited the prophecy and I couldn’t understand any of it.

Six half-bloods shall be needed for the task ahead,

Among them a traitor and the one who fled.

Something lost shall be found and the truth shall be told,

Those once selected by death shall realize time gained a hold.

“We think that this prophecy could possibly be about you,” Annabeth said cautiously. “We don’t have any solid proof, as always when it comes to prophecies,” she frowned, “but we think that some of the stuff in the prophecy is about you.”

I couldn’t really comprehend what she was saying and I don’t think anyone else really did either.

“I can understand where you’re coming from,” Silena said quietly. “That thing about ‘Those once selected by death’ could probably refer to me and Charlie and…” She seemed to pull herself together. “So could the thing about a traitor being among them.” Silena looked sad and so did all of the others. Percy looked down at the ground and put an arm around Annabeth. Charlie put an arm around Silena and so did Clarisse. I had no idea what Silena had been a traitor for but I could tell that she wasn’t proud of it. Surprisingly that wasn’t what I focused on.

“Woah, woah, woah, hold up a second. ‘Those once selected by death’? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Silena and Beckendorf turned towards me with sad smiles on their faces.

“We died around two years ago.”


	13. CHAPTER 12, Silena and Beckendorf are Greek zombies

DESIRÉE  
“WHAT!?”  
Saying that I was shocked was an understatement. Silena and Beckendorf didn’t look dead at all. They look just as alive as I did, probably even more because I just woke up.  
Jake looked just as shocked as me.   
“So you’re zombies? Or like the Greek mythology version of zombies.”  
“We’re not zombies,” Charlie said. “I think?” He looked at Silena. She gave him a look.  
“No, we aren’t.”  
“Oh, good,” Jake said uncertainly.  
Silena took a deep breath and started explaining how she and Beckendorf had died in a war a few years prior. There had been some time titan, Kronos, who wanted to overthrow the gods. I had read about him in history class, the father of the gods who had been killed by Zeus, I think. Apparently, he had managed to recruit a bunch of monsters and demigods and there had been a big war between the gods and the Titans in Manhattan. I remembered my dad talking about how Manhattan had had some sort of shut down and how there had been a word about some big storm.  
Before the actual battle, Beckendorf and Percy had tried to take down one of Kronos’ ships. And that’s where Beckendorf had apparently died. The ship had exploded and so had he.   
When Silena got to the part where Beckendorf died she broke down crying. Beckendorf comforted her and Percy continued the story.  
After Beckendorf had died Silena had broken down. There had been rumour of a traitor at the camp and they learned on Silena’s deathbed that she was the traitor. She had a crush on the guy who was Kronos’ follower, Luke, and he convinced her that if she helped him she would save a lot of people. My insides burned when Percy got to that part. It’s not right to use someone’s feelings for your own self-gain.  
After a while Silena decided that she didn’t want to be Kronos’ source of intel anymore which caused Luke to blackmail her, saying that if she didn’t continue to give them intel he would hurt Beckendorf.  
After Beckendorf died she mostly stopped being the intel and she died battling a Drakon.  
Both of them reunited in the afterlife where they ‘lived’ for a year until they got revived by the earth goddess Gaea. They woke up on a beach in Greece and they had travelled all the way from Greece to New York.  
When Percy finished I couldn’t do anything but gape at him. Jake looked just as shocked as I did but Dylan just had a look of understanding on her face.  
“Okay, well, that explains why you could be ‘the once selected by death’,” Jake said quietly.  
“Why do you believe any of us are part of this prophecy?” Dylan asked. It seemed insensitive to just dismiss their story.  
“It can’t merely be a coincidence that you three arrived with Silena and Beckendorf,” Annabeth said. “It’s simply impossible.”  
“It’s not,” Dylan said. “It’s possible that it’s just coincidence.” Annabeth looked annoyed that Dylan opposed her but she held her tongue.  
“Six half-bloods are needed for whatever task the prophecy foretold, and the five of you arrived last night. Also, the one who fled could refer to you Dylan,” Annabeth said.  
“Oh?” Dylan raised an eyebrow. “And what gave you that idea?”  
“When you got here, you walked away as soon as you were safe. Or in other words, you fled.” Annabeth seemed content with her reasoning but Dylan wasn’t having any of it.  
“So what? Just because I walked away, it means that I fled?” She rolled her eyes and walked away from the table.  
“Sorry, Annabeth, but that’s a bit too farfetched. I’m not part of this weird prophecy.”  
After she had said that she walked out of the room and I could hear the front door close with a bang.  
We all stood there in silence until Jake spoke up.  
“Hey, as much as I’d love to be part of some weird prophecy, I think Dylan is right. There’s no proof that it’s actually about us.” Jake gave us all an apologetic smile and walked out of the room. Annabeth sighed and Rachel put a hand on her shoulder. I felt really uncomfortable just staying there. It seemed like Percy noticed.  
“Hey, Des, right?” I nodded. “You haven’t gotten the tour of the camp yet, have you?” I shook my head. Percy smiled slightly.  
“Well then! You know where the cabins are right? Look for the one full of flowers and plants, that’s the Demeter cabin. Ask for Miranda Gardiner, she’ll help you out.” I thanked him and walked out of the big house. I walked over to the cabins and easily spotted the cabin Percy had been talking about. The roof was covered in grass and the entire cabin was surrounded by plants. Something about the cabin felt like a breath of fresh air. I walked in through the door and I was surrounded by the smell of fresh dirt and flowers. It was like a massive greenhouse. A girl with dirty blonde hair walked by me holding a few cookbooks. She noticed me standing by the door and smiled at me.  
“Hey, aren’t you the girl who got claimed this morning at breakfast? Welcome to the Demeter cabin! I’m Miranda Gardiner.” I introduced myself and Miranda gave me a walkthrough of the cabin. I didn’t have any older siblings at home, just two stepbrothers who were way younger than me, and it felt pretty cool to have a demigod older sister.


	14. CHAPTER 13, SWORDMASTER KHIONE

LEO

I was walking back from Bunker 9 after a night of hard work when I heard someone in the battle arena. I wasn’t really in the mood to run into some angry Ares kid or some other pissed off demigod but something told me to and see who was there. I’ve learnt that you should NEVER follow that sort of voice but I did it anyway.

The closer I got to the arena, the louder the sound got. As far as I could tell, the person inside was furious. It sounded like they were battling their worst enemy.

I cautiously made my way to the entrance and looked inside. The person I saw in there didn’t look like I had expected. I had imagined someone that was pretty much an ogre or something but the person in the arena was a hot girl. Like, Top Model hot. She was wearing a sports bra and jeans, sweating up a storm. Her hair was up in a bun and she looked like she was going to murder the training dummy. She was fighting with two white daggers that were a big contrast to her dark skin. I had never seen material like that before, and I should know weapon materials; being a Hephaestus kid and all.

She slashed and stabbed vigorously and the way she fought reminded me of Jason and Percy. The way she fought was full of rehearsed moves but also a lot of improv. It was kinda fascinating to watch.

As I continued watching her daggers disappeared and were replaced with a sword. I don’t know how she changed weapons so quickly but I could’ve sworn that she transformed the daggers into the sword.

“If you want to use the arena you could just ask instead of staring at me,” she said and looked at me over her shoulder. Her face was beautiful. And intimidating.

“Oh no I- I wasn’t gonna use the arena! I just heard someone fighting like a madman so, uh…” Great work Leo, call the pretty girl with the sword a madman.

“Madman? Really?” She said and arched an eyebrow. She looked me up and down and I felt a chill run through my body. She reminded me of the snow goddess Khione, but with darker skin and less ice-y ness.

“Okay,” she said and walked over to a pile of stuff. She picked up a beige t-shirt and put it on, along with a grey backpack.

“Hey, you don’t need to leave just because you’re overwhelmed by seeing the Bad Boy Supreme Leo Valdez,” I said and tried to laugh but it sounded more like a scared hyena. She looked at me again. Oh, gods, why is she so pretty!?

“Bad Boy Supreme? Is that what they call you around here?” She walked up to me and she was even more terrifyingly beautiful up close. She had beautiful brown eyes that I could swear flickered to blue now and then.

“Yup, that’s me, ladies man Leo Valdez!” Leo, please stop embarrassing yourself.

She laughed slightly and I could swear that it sounded like a purling river. Who was this girl!?

“Well I should be going, nice to meet you ‘Ladies man, Leo Valdez’,” she said and walked past me out of the arena. I should have just let her go and be on my way but I couldn’t.

“Hey, wait up!” I said and followed her. She seemed annoyed that I had followed her but, hey, being annoying is my speciality.

“Is there something you want?” Except for your number? I wanted to say, but I had a feeling she would pulverize me if I did.

“Well, yeah. You know my name, so wouldn’t it be unfair if I didn’t know yours?”

She raised her eyebrows in an ‘Are you serious right now?’ gesture. I just continued to look at her. She sighed.

“Dylan Jones. There,” she said. “Now you know my name. See ya.” There was an unspoken ‘never’ after her words. She walked away and left me alone outside of the arena. People with the name Dylan hadn’t really made a good impression on me in the past but maybe she was going to change that.

I probably would have stood there forever if Annabeth hadn’t yelled at me.

“Leo!”

I whipped my head around (which hurt by the way) and looked at Annabeth. She looked a bit winded and I felt bad for her. She had never been the same after Tartarus.

“Yes, Annie?” She scoffed at the nickname but nothing more. After everything had gone down with Gaea and Apollo we had gotten pretty close. She and I actually had a lot in common. She was a huge architecture nerd and when I learned about that I may or may not have gotten incredibly excited. I love machines and blueprints and stuff, and to have someone with similar interests is amazing.

“There’s someone you need to meet,” she said. She looked really happy, and I think it was the happiest I had seen her since Tartarus.

“Gasp! Have you found me a new girlfriend, Annie? Thank you!” She rolled her eyes and told me to follow her. I did as she wanted and asked a billion questions about this ‘girlfriend’. I didn’t actually believe that she had gotten me a girlfriend, but she was in a good mood so I figured I could tease her.

She led me to the Hephaestus cabin and I got confused.

“Um, Annie, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think you would be this happy over a new Hephaestus kid.” She laughed and I realised that I hadn’t heard her laugh at one of my jokes in forever.

“It’s not a ‘new’ camper exactly, Valdez,” she said with a smug smile. You should never trust Annabeth when she has a smug smile on her face. If you’re not prepared you’ll soon find yourself in an amazingly complicated trap.

I walked into the cabin, never daring to take my eyes off her.

When I got inside the cabin I heard two voices I had never heard before chatting with my siblings as if they already knew each other.

“A curse? Really? Wow, I’m sorry about that,” a low voice, like the humming of machines, said. I looked over at the person who said it and saw a tall African-American guy sitting on my bed. Beside him sat a pretty girl, leaning on his arm.

“Uh, hey dude, what are you doing on my bed?” The guy turned towards me and smiled. He had looked pretty scary before but when he smiled he looked pretty harmless. Except for his massive muscles of course.

“You’ve gotta be Leo, right? I guess Jake wasn’t lying when he said you had taken over my bed.”

I wanted to ask him what he was going on about. This bed couldn’t be his, it belonged to Charles Beckendorf. And that guy was dead so he couldn’t…

Unless…

“You’re that Beckendorf dude, aren’t you?” I asked.

He laughed slightly.

“‘That Beckendorf dude’? Yeah, that’s me.”


	15. CHAPTER 14, I meet my little bro

CHARLES

Before me stood a small latino kid with his mouth gaping open. I guess seeing your dead half-brother that you’ve never met is a shock.

“But, aren’t you dead? Are you like some no-muerto or something? Cause I don’t wanna deal with that.”

I wasn’t really sure what no-muerto meant but I guessed it meant something like a zombie.

“Well, I don’t know what no-muerto means but I’m not a zombie if that’s what you’re asking.”

He nodded and continued to nod for a long while. He put his hand on his hips.

“Okay, so you came back to life then?”

“Yup.”

“Cool. Cool, cool, cool.” He seemed to accept it pretty easily and I couldn’t really understand how.

“Uh, Leo kind off died last year, too,” Jake said. I stared at Leo with wide eyes. I mean, I knew it was possible to come back from the dead (obviously) but it still surprised me.

“Yeah, it was this thing with an old dirt-hag and an explosion, it’s a long story.” He seemed to be nonchalant about it, but there was some fear behind his words. It seemed to be more about this then he let on.

“Hey, Leo!” Jake said. “Would you mind showing Beckendorf Bunker 9?”

I desperately wanted to see the bunker and the bronze dragon again, but I didn’t want to push the kid. He seemed quite antsy, even for a demigod.

“Yeah, sure,” he said and fiddled with his tool belt. “Hope you like what I did with the place, big bro.” He grinned at me and I couldn’t help but laugh. Big bro, seriously?

“Well, little bro, It’d be cool to see how you renovated the bunker,” I said. I stood up and Silena followed me.

“I’m going to say hi to my siblings,” she said and kissed me on the cheek before walking over to Leo and pulling him into a hug. He looked extremely confused when she let go and I could swear that he was blushing.

“I heard about how you saved the world, Leo. I’m proud of you.” She ruffled his curly hair and walked out of the cabin. Leo looked at me and I chuckled.

“Sorry about Silena, she’s a bit affectionate. Being an Aphrodite kid and all.” I left out the part about how I loved that about her.

“Yeah, I noticed. My best friend Piper’s the same,” he said with a smile. It was different from the smiles he had shown before, more genuine. I guess he really liked this Piper girl.

“Friend?” I asked when we walked out of the cabin. “That sounds similar to how Percy described Annabeth.”

“Woah, you know Percy and Annabeth?” He looked shocked.

“Yeah, we’ve known each other for a few years. Percy used to talk about his ‘friend’ Annabeth all the time, I can’t believe he didn’t realise his crush sooner.”

“Well, me and Pipes are not the same as Annie and Percy,” Leo said and made an ‘X’ with his arms. “She’s dating my friend, Jason, son of Zeus. I would NOT want to break them up. Plus I already-“  
He got quiet and something seemed to bother him. Now, I’ve only known this kid for five minutes or so but I felt that I had to be a big brother to him. I’m not the best at this whole relating and emoting stuff, but I gave it a try.

“You already what?”  
“Nothing,” he said with a grin. “Just had some chick who I used to date, that’s all.” He was smiling and joking but I could tell that he was hurt.

“Wanna talk about it? Who better to talk to then your brother you’ve never met before?” I tried to joke but it isn’t my strong suit.

“Nah, I’m good dude. Here we are!” We had arrived at the bunkers front door. I remembered how long it had taken me to open it the first time. It had taken a lot of flamethrowers to open the door and I was just about to ask Leo if he had something to open it with when he blasted the door with fire. I had heard about children of Hephaestus being able to control fire but I’d never seen it in person. I couldn’t do anything but stare, even when the door had opened. Leo looked at me and grinned, but I could see pain in his eyes.

“You impressed?” he asked and raised his eyebrows.

“Are you kidding? I’m way more than impressed. That was amazing.”

He grinned again and walked into the bunker. I followed him in and a wave of recognition came over me. I remembered the days I had spent in there trying to fix the bronze dragon. I remembered how Silena had complained about me being covered in motor oil and Tabasco sauce.

The bunker was big and full of tools and machines. It was basically a mechanics dream. The place couldn’t possibly be described as clean. There were oil stains everywhere and tools were scattered over the working tables and floor. Something large stood in the middle of the large bunker, covered in a white cloth.

Leo sat down in a chair by a worktable and his shoulder sunk. It was the first time I noticed the large bags under his eyes and his dishevelled hair. He looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks.

“You okay, man? You look worse than death.”

He looked at me and tried to cover up his tiredness with a mischievous grin.

“Man, I’m hurt! I’m way prettier than death!”

It was pretty obvious that he was hiding stuff with a smile but I’m not good at helping people with their feelings; machines I can do. People? Not so much.

“I’m sorry, kid. Didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” I said and tried to smile. After that we were silent. We would probably would have sat there in silence forever if someone hadn’t knocked on the door.

I jumped when someone banged on the door.

“HEY! BECKENDORF! IF YOU’RE IN THERE GET OUT HERE AND GO TO THE BIG HOUSE. NOW!” Someone yelled. I recognised Dylan’s voice and I decided to listen to her. I didn’t want to piss her off, even if I seemed to be bigger and older than her.

I quickly ran to the door with Leo close behind me. We made our way over to the Big House and saw Dylan, Des, Jake, Silena, Rachel, Annabeth, Percy, Clarisse and Chiron waiting impatiently outside.

“Finally,” Dylan muttered when Leo and I finally arrived. She seemed to be furious and I guessed that I would soon know why.

“Tell them,” she said forcefully. She was glaring daggers at Annabeth and I would not want to be in her seat right now.

Annabeth turned towards me and Leo. But before she could start talking Leo did.

“I should probably leave, right? It was nice to meet you, bro,” he said to me and started to walk away.

“Stay,” Dylan said and Leo froze. I can’t blame him, she was terrifying. I could swear that the earth was rumbling from her anger.

Leo turned around and went back to his place beside me. He eyed Dylan wearily and I started to get mad. He was obviously not okay right now and Dylan acting like she did was not what he needed right now.

“Dylan, calm down.” I looked her in the eyes and I seemed to be able to get through to her.

“Sorry.” She looked at Leo and she seemed genuinely sorry. Annabeth cleared her throat

“Anyway,” she said and looked at all of us. “There is something going on in Maine, and we need someone to check it out.” No one said anything so she continued talking.

“There have been more monsters than usually up there and it doesn’t seem right. We need somebody to find out what is going on up there, and I think it should be you six.”

I think I knew why she wanted me, Silena, Dylan, Des and Jake to go but I couldn’t figure out why she wanted Leo too.

“Hold up, Annie,” Leo said and held up his hands. “Why me? Is it because of the invisible ink I put in your pen? Because I said that I’m sorry!”

I’m wasn’t even going to ask.

“No, Leo, it’s not because of that,” she said. “It’s because we think that you six might be the people in the prophecy.”

I had already heard and accepted this, but Leo hadn’t.

“What? No! No, Annie, the last time I was in a prophecy I died! There’s no way I’m part of this!” He sounded shocked and scared, and I couldn’t blame him. I had heard about how he and six other half-bloods had saved the world last year, and it hadn’t sounded good.

“I know that you don’t want to be a part of this prophecy, Leo,” Percy said. “Trust me, none of us ever do. But you don’t really have a choice here.” Leo’s shoulders slumped but he seemed to accept it.

“Okay, I’m in. But where are we supposed to go?” he said and looked at Annabeth. I’m sure we all were wondering the same.

“As far as we know,” Chiron said. “The monsters have their base at the top of Mount Katahdin in Maine. There will probably take a few days to get there safely with so many demigods but-“

“Give us a day and we’re done,” Dylan said. Everyone turned to look at her but her eyes were fixed on Chiron’s.

“Just because you might be able to fix this in a few hours doesn’t mean that everyone can. You have two unexperienced demigods with you, you have got to take it safely.”

Dylan muttered something that sounded like ‘That hasn’t stopped you before’ but I don’t think Chiron noticed, and if he did he didn’t care.

“You should try to get there as fast as you can, you can leave after lunch,” he said and wheeled away. As soon as he had shut the door to the big house Dylan let out a string of courses that would have made Gordon Ramsay proud.

“Dylan!” Silena yelled. “There are kids here!” She motioned towards Jake and Des but they didn’t seem to mind.

“It’s cool, I’ve heard worse at school,” Des said and Jake nodded.

“Yeah, and I lived on the street. What she said is nothing,” he said and shrugged. Silena seemed baffled.

“We should get some lunch,” I said and motioned towards the mess hall. Surprisingly, everyone tagged along, even Dylan. We walked in quiet and sat down at our assigned tables as soon as we got to there. Dylan seemed reluctant to sit down anywhere and that’s when I remembered that she had never said who her godly parent was. I didn’t know if she was embarrassed of her parent or if she was mad at them, but there was definitely something wrong. Des realised that Dylan just stood there and dragged her over to the Demeter table. Miranda didn’t seem too happy about it but she didn’t say anything.

I sat down beside Leo at the Hephaestus table and got some burgers and coke. After eating whatever scraps we could find during mine and Silena’s trip back home, eating burgers and drinking coke felt awesome.

Leo bumped into me and made me spill my drink all over my lap.

“What the Hades, man!?”

“Sorry!” He said and handed me some paper. He talked whilst I tried to clean up.

“What is that girl’s deal? You know, the tall one who wants to kill me?”

“She does not want to kill you. I don’t think at least.”

“Wow, thanks.”

I rolled my eyes and gave the dirty paper to one of the nymphs walking around. I thanked her and she smiled dryly.

“I don’t know what her deal is, but she doesn’t seem to like the gods and demigods that much,” I said and took a bit out of my burger.

“Yeah, but still, she’s mad.”

I just shrugged. It wasn’t my place to talk, I didn’t know anything about her after all. I just knew her name.

“And, like, what’s up with those daggers, man? And that sword?” He hadn’t even touched his food he was so fixated on Dylan.

“I don’t know,” I said and put my burger down. He was not gonna let me eat, that was for sure. “I’ve never seen daggers like that before.” I had to admit, I was curious about the daggers too. I couldn’t figure out what the material was or how she could change their form.

“I wonder if she’d let me borrow them for a while…” Leo muttered. I snorted and coke came out of my nose.

“Man,” I said wiping coke from my face. “I don’t think she’d let anyone touch her weapons.” Leo shrugged and started eating if you could even call it that. He shoved the food around his plate, barely anything actually getting to his mouth.

I was worried about him.


	16. CHAPTER 15, I accidentally flip a car

DYLAN

I was furious. No, that doesn't even begin to cover it. Some stupid people had decided that I was a part of some old oracle's prophecy. The only reason that I'm even going on this stupid quest is because of Des and Chiron. Even if I don't necessarily distrust those people I certainly don't trust them to keep Des safe. I don't know why, but I felt a need to protect her. It was annoying.

And then there was Chiron. That old horse knew me. Well, he didn't know me, but he knew of me. Now, you may wonder, how? Well, apparently he knows my stepmom. Why? Well because she's a demigod of course!

Now, I actually knew that, so that's not the surprising part. No, the surprising part was how Chiron knew her. All my life I had thought that she had lived at Camp Jupiter, not Camp Half-Blood. I suppose that I hadn't actually asked where she had learnt how to fight and all, but that's not the point. The point is that she wasn't a part of the third cohort but she was actually a member of the Apollo cabin.

To be honest with you, it hurt. I had always believed that she knew what I had gone through at camp, but it turned out that she didn't.

Chiron had wanted to talk to me and even though I wanted to leave as fast as I could, I talked with him. Well, it was more showing than talking. My stepmom had sent Christmas cards to Chiron every year. Cards with me on them. He had taken me to his office and shown me the Christmas card my mother had sent to our family and friends last year. It was a picture of me, my mom Dominique, my stepmom Joanne, my older sister Marley and our dog Archie. I remembered that day, Archie had been so excited to take the picture and it was the day before I had my hair braided. I had almost forgotten what my hair looked like when it wasn't braided. It was huge, curly and down to my chest.

Before he had had the chance to explain or say anything I stormed out of there. I didn't want to hear whatever it was he had to say. I just wanted to leave and go home. Right then and there.

But of course, I couldn't. I honestly started to believe that Neptune kids really were made of bad luck.

I had quickly eaten breakfast and then gotten out of that stupid pillar cage. I thought it'd looked neat before I learnt that I had to be stuck with some kids from that stupid place. I walked over to the big pine tree we arrived at and waited for the rest of my "companions".

I sat down at the base of the tree and opened my backpack. I'd only packed a few necessities when I went to take down that chimera. I hadn't used any of the stuff I'd brought yet, and I was lucky. Even though I'm used to fighting monsters I had some trouble with that stupid lion-snake-thing. And as much as I hate to admit it, Des was a big help. If she hadn't distracted the chimera I probably wouldn't have seen an opening to taking it down.

I grabbed my word and pulled it apart, turning it into a pair of Pugios. I'm not really sure how my sword is able to do that sort of things, but I'm not complaining. I was absentmindedly stabbing the ground with my daggers (I was pissed off, okay? Don't judge me) when someone sat down in front of me. I looked up from my stabbing and saw that it was that small Latino kid I'd met in the arena. I couldn't really remember his name but I could remember that I thought he was annoyingly cocky. He was staring at my daggers and seemed to be lost in thought. Okay, I know that my daggers are cool but that's no need to stare as if you've just seen a note with the meaning of life on it.

"What do you want?" I asked and he jumped. He seemed to be a very nervous kid.

"Nothing, nothing. Just waiting for the rest of our crew, ya know?" He answered. I looked at him and he started messing with some bolts and screws. I didn't know what he was making but I continued looking. He seemed to make some sort of miniature dragon but quickly scrapped it. He seemed sad.

I was thinking about asking him if something was wrong. He hadn't actually been too awful to talk to yet, except for that awkward 'Ladies Man' comment. I don't really catch on when people are flirting with me, being asexual and all, but I think that he was flirting. If he was, I had no interest in flirting back.

It also seemed like he didn't want anything to do with that cruddy prophecy. I couldn't blame him, apparently, he'd died the last time he was part of a prophecy. As much as I didn't want to make 'friends' with anyone here I had nothing against Vu- I mean Hepha-

Screw it. I'm roman for gods sake. If I hadn't learned the Greek names by now, I never would.

I had nothing against Vulcan's kids, one of my best friends was a Vulcan kid. Shocking, I know, but I actually had some demigod friends who were as annoyed with the gods as I was.

"Something bothering you?" I asked and the kid seemed genuinely shocked that I cared.

Ouch.

I guess it made sense.

"What? Oh, yeah. I was just wondering about your daggers."

"What about them?" I stopped stabbing the ground and brushed off some dirt from them.

"Well, they're not really normal, right? I mean, they're not abnormal, just weird. Wait, I-"

"Chill. They're weird. I know." This kid was really scared of me and it didn't feel good. I had nothing against bad people being scared of me, but this felt different. I felt ashamed, and it was annoying. Surprising myself, I did something stupid.

"You could check them out whilst we wait for the others if you want," I said and handed them to him. My mind was screaming 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING DON'T GIVE THOSE AWAY YOU DUMBNUT' but my body didn't listen. It felt weird as if someone else was subtly controlling my actions.

He took the daggers in his hands and thoroughly looked them over. Something in the back of my mind screamed at me to take back my daggers. I wanted badly to take them back but he looked so fascinated by them and I didn't want to ruin his fun. I'm not a totally bad person.

We sat in quiet for a while until the others eventually got to the pine tree. They were all equipped with weapons of celestial bronze and new clothes. Jake didn't look like an alley cat anymore, in fact, he looked quite put together. He would be a mothers dream if his hair wasn't such a mess. To his credit though, he had put it up in a ponytail. Silena had put on some warmer clothes and her hair seemed black now, instead of the brown she had had the day before.

"Are everyone ready?" The kid asked and stood up. I was scared that he wouldn't give me my daggers back but he handed them over to me. I stood up too and changed the daggers into a sword that I strapped to my hip. I put on my sweater and leaned back against the pine tree. Did I do it to look cool? Maybe.

Everyone nodded but they seemed nervous.

"What's the plan then?" I asked.

"We make our way over to Mount Katahdin and see what's up there. After we've found out what's causing so many monsters to appear we get back here and report it to Chiron," Beckendorf said. It seemed like a solid plan, personally I would have included taking down all the monsters, but solid all the same.

"Wait," Des said. "Won't it take long to get there? Do we have anywhere to stay for the night or something?" Beckendorf seemed to begin to say something but I cut him off.

"I know some demigods up in Portland, they'll let us stay the night if we ask," I said. All of them stared at me. Is it that impossible for me to have friends?

"That sounds good," Silena said and smiled at me. "Now we just have to figure out how to get there. The last time we took the bus we got attacked by stymphalian birds, and I don't want that to happen again." We all thought for a second until Valdez (?) perked up. His hands and hair started smoking and I almost got some water to put him out.

"Wait here!" He said and ran away. Great. Just great.

I looked over at Des and felt a bit bad for her. If I hadn't accidentally led that Chimera to her school she wouldn't be in this mess. I think that I felt guilty about it, and that's why I wanted to protect her.

Suddenly we heard a roaring engine. I turned to where the sound came from and saw a bronze minivan speed towards us. The car was going too fast to be able to stop before hitting us. Everyone ran away from the car that quickly got closer to the pine tree. I didn't want a bad driver ruing such a neat car so I slightly made the earth move so that the car wouldn't crash. Well, it was supposed to be slight. I accidentally put in a bit too much force and the minivan shot up into the air, twisted and turned, and then eventually hit the ground at the bottom of the hill. Oops.

We all rushed down the hill. Just as I got to the driver seat door, Valdez tumbled out of it and fell into my arms. I put him down and sat him up against the side of the van. He seemed to have hit his head, mainly because there was a trickle of blood coming from his forehead. Silena rushed over to help him and I looked at the car. I felt bad about hurting Valdez but I knew that Silena would be able to take care of him better than I could. I got into the driver's seat and checked it out. It was a nice car and it seemed to be relatively normal. Relatively.

Alongside the normal buttons like a seat warmer and radio the car also had buttons for monster detection, demigod detection and various other detectors. The one who made the car must really have wanted to find something. There was also a miniature bronze dragon hanging from the rear view window. It was kinda cute.

I heard Beckendorf whistle quietly beside me. He seemed to be extremely impressed with the car and I couldn't blame him, he was a Vulcan kid after all.

After a while, Valdez seemed to be fine and he explained that the car was his idea of how we were going to get to Maine. I really didn't care how we got to Maine, just that we got there. After a long argument (And I mean, LONG) we eventually decided that Beckendorf was going to drive to Portland and then I'd take over from Portland to Mount Katahdin.

Silena and Beckendorf took the front seats, Jake and Des took the middle seats and Valdez and I got stuck in the back. I leaned towards the window and brought up my phone from my bag, which of course made Valdez freak out.

"Wait! You can't use that, it's going to attract monsters." I simply looked at him. Did he really think that I had survived for almost 17 years not knowing that phones attracted monsters?

"No, it's not. It's demigod safe. I'm not an idiot."

He didn't seem to believe me but he didn't say anything. I quickly texted my mom to tell her that I was going on a quest, but that I'd be fine. I also texted my friends up in Portland, warning them that we were coming. They could be a bit antsy sometimes.

After six hours and some monster attacks, we made it to Portland. I gave Beckendorf instructions to my friends' place. He got extremely suspicious when my directions led us to an open field in the middle of the woods. I opened my door and stepped out of the van. Beckendorf and Valdez followed my lead, probably because they were suspicious. I walked towards the middle of the field and stopped when a metal dove landed in front of me. I crouched down and made eye contact with it. I could see my own reflection in its eyes and I knew that Missy could see me through the dove's eyes. The dove flew up into the air and disappeared. Even though I had my back turned to them I could tell that Beckendorf and Valdez were wondering what the heck was going on. Seemingly out of nowhere, a large warehouse appeared. I was used to it but I was the only one apparently. Valdez let out a string of curses that made me jealous. I heard the doors to the van close and shocked gasps coming from behind me. I mean, Missy and Ruth's place is cool and all, but this was a bit ridiculous. A door opened in front of us and Missy stood there in all her blonde glory. She was wearing her hair up in a ponytail and the blonde hair was a huge contrast to her dark clothes. She looked like a Barbie doll that stole Rose Hathaway's clothes.

She stood there with her arms crossed and eyed us up and down. She looked at me and we made eye contact.

'Who are they?' her eyes said.

'Companions' I answered.

She shrugged and led us into the warehouse. The others were muttering and asking questions but I ignored them.

The warehouse looked exactly as I remembered it. It was large, three stories tall, and there were metal scraps everywhere. The floor was stained with oil and paint; it seemed like the word 'clean' wasn't a thing there.

I looked around the room to try to find Ruth. I spotted her behind a large desk fixing up the dove we met a few moments ago, her metal leg banging impatiently on the floor. Her dark skin was covered in oil and metal powder and to be frank; she looked like a mess. I walked over to her and knocked on the desk. I seem to have startled her and she shot up out of her chair, only to instantly fall on the ground.

"Ruth!" Missy yelled and ran over to her girlfriend. She had taken off her jacket and you could see her metal arm clearly. She and Ruth had lost their limbs in a fight against some dragons a few years back and they were constantly working on new prosthetics for themselves and other demigods.

Missy helped Ruth up and sat her on top of the desk. Ruth's metal leg was dangling loosely from her knee and Missy started to reattach it.

"New prosthetic?" I asked. Ruth turned her head to me and smiled.

"Yup! Even lighter and more powerful than the latest," she answered with a grin. I heard a low whistle coming from behind me. I turned around and saw Valdez looking at Ruth's leg and Missy's arm. He seemed impressed.

"Who's your friend, Dy?" Missy asked and nodded towards Valdez.

"That's Valdez," I said. "Hephaestus kid. Ruth's half-brother." Ruth turned towards Valdez grinning like a fool.

"So you're my brother, huh? Nice to meet ya kid!" Valdez looked confused but he smiled. He and Ruth started talking about stuff that I couldn't understand.

"There's another Hephaestus kid too, Beckendorf, and his girlfriend Silena. She's your half-sister," I said and nodded towards them. "And a Hermes kid, Jake and a Demeter kid, Des." Missy finished fixing Ruth's leg and made her way up the stairs to the second floor, motioning me to follow her. I knew that we needed to talk so I followed her.


	17. CHAPTER 16, Secrets are annoying so I come clean

DYLAN

“What’s going on? You hate being around demigods, it took Ruth and I years for you to trust us.”

I sighed and scratched my neck. Missy was right, it had taken me forever to trust them. I’d met them five years ago when I was on a trip with my family to Portland. We were visiting my grandma when I got kidnapped by some Cyclopes’. I managed to get away from them but I had no idea where I was. That’s when Ruth and Missy found me. I was hiding in a tree when I made eye contact with a metallic hawk. After a few seconds, the hawk flew away. Not even a minute later Missy appeared on a motorcycle. I remember thinking that she looked like some sort of young adult novel hero. She told me to get on and I was terrified. There was a super cool 18-year old telling me to get on her bike and drive away with her. It seemed as if it was safer to go with her than to get eaten by Cyclopes’ so I jumped on her bike and she took me to her and Ruth’s warehouse. They helped me find my way back to my family and has continued to help me ever since.

“Apparently I’m part of some stupid prophecy and some horse told us to go to some mountain to look at monsters.”

Even though I was super vague Missy understood me. I think it had something to do with her Venus powers but it might also have been because she knew me so well.

“Mount Katahdin?”

“Yup.”

Missy thought for a second before she disappeared into her office. She yelled at me to look at something and I followed her. The office was filled with folders, binders and books about a million different subjects. She really seemed to be more of a Minerva kid than a Venus kid.

“Come look at this,” she said and pointed to an open binder filled pictures. The pictures were showing hordes of monsters standing in a clearing. They looked like an army.

“These pictures are from Katahdin. One of our birds got these photos the other day.” I looked closer at the pictures. It seemed as if the monster were bowing to someone, but the pictures were taken too far away to see clearly.

Huh. Seems like that old horse was right.

“We should show this to the others,” I said and picked up the binder. Missy followed me downstairs where Ruth and the rest were playing cards and laughing. They seemed to be playing “Godly Poker”, a game where instead of poker chips you used coins with your godly parent on them. The winner got a special weapon made by Ruth.

“Guys, look at this,” I said and put down the binder on the table. Ruth looked mad about me messing up their poker game for a second but got over when she saw what the binder contained.

“What’s this?” Des said, looking closely at the pictures. Missy told them the same thing she’d told me a few moments earlier.

“So Chiron was right! There really is something going on on that mountain,” Silena said.

“Yup. So let’s get them,” I said and started walking towards the door.

“What!? Now!?” Jake exclaimed and stared at me. I stared back.

“Yeah. We know where they are so why not?” I asked. We knew where the monsters were supposed to be so why not get it over with.

“But it’s dark outside.” Des frowned. “Should we really go now? Isn’t night-time the evil hours or something?” She looked nervous and was messing around with her ponytail. She looked really tired too. Actually, when I thought about it, every one of them looked tired. Oh for Eros’s sake.

I sighed, took off my backpack and walked over to the table where they were playing poker. I pulled up a chair and stretched out my hand towards Ruth. She smiled and handed me a pair of blank coins. Now, here’s the thing. The coins respond to the demigod who uses them, which means that your godly parent will appear on them. And if you were wondering, yes, this meant that Neptune would show up on my coins. Missy, Ruth, Silena and Des already knew about my dad and didn’t feel threatened by the others so I might as well let them know. Plus, they seemed pretty okay with that Poseidon kid so they might be okay with me too.

Ruth handed me the coins and I let the mist around my eyes fall. My dad’s face appeared on the coins and I waited for the game to start over. Missy and Ruth didn’t pay any attention to it, but the others did. Des didn’t care that much, she already knew about my dad after all. Jake just looked at my coins, nodded approvingly and fiddled with his own. Beckendorf stared at me for a second before looking at Silena. She just gave him a smile and he smiled back, although hesitantly. The only one who really made a big deal about it was Leo.

“What the? Your eyes they just-? And your coins? What?” He looked so confused and I almost pitied him. I merely shrugged and flipped one of my coins in the air.

“Don’t sweat it,” I said. “Let’s just play poker. I want a new weapon.”

“Well you heard the lady,” Missy said and grabbed some coins. “Time to play some poker.”


	18. CHAPTER 17, Venus tries to play matchmaker

DYLAN

After playing a long game of poker, which Jake won, we all went to bed. I could have given anything for a full night of rest so that I was prepared to kick some monster butt, but of course that wasn’t going to happen.

Around me, it looked like a high-end fashion boutique. There were beautiful dresses and what looked like really expensive shoes everywhere. The clothes where spectacular but they seemed dull compared to the goddess in the middle of the room. Her looks constantly changed and she took the form of some of the most aesthetically attractive women I’ve met. Now, the thing is, I don’t really like Venus that much, so having her invade my dream was a bit annoying.

“What do you want?” I asked and sat down on a nice beige sofa. I crossed my arms and Venus tsk’d at me. She pouted her overly perfect lips and looked like a child who just got told they wouldn’t get a pony.

“Now, now, Dylan. I just wanted to talk to my favourite Neptune child!”

“I’m the only Neptune child you know.”

Now, you probably think that I’m crazy for sassing the goddess who can bring anyone to their knees, but she’s not that intimidating to me. Sure, her ‘Goddess of Love’ side is a bit dangerous but her ‘Goddess of sex’ side doesn’t affect me. One good thing about being asexual I guess, the goddess of sex has no power over you. After all, it’s her fault that I’m ace so it would be rude not to give me some advantages. I’m pretty okay with being ace, I’ve never really known anything else, but it gets on my nerves sometimes.

“Anyhow,” Venus said. “I actually had a reason to talk to you. Have you met Leo Valdez yet?”

“Short, annoying and impulsive? Yeah, I’ve met him.” Venus smiled and crossed her legs. Oh no.

“Well, I was thinking that you two would be cute together! Wouldn’t it be wonderful? His girlfriend just dumped him because she never really loved him and you don’t think you’re capable of loving anyone! It would be perfect!”

I could do nothing but stare at her. Not because I wanted to, if I could I would pulverize her, but because I wanted answers.

“You’ve been manipulating my brain, haven’t you? You’re the reason I let him look at my pugios!” I said. She simply smiled, which gave me more than enough answers. Needless to say, I was a bit annoyed.

“Get out of my head. Now. And don’t you even dare try to pair us together again,” I yelled and the room around me disappeared. I was a bit surprised that she let me go that easily, but I later learnt that she seemed to be one step ahead of me.

I woke up with a desperate urge for fresh air. My throat felt as if it was closing up and my lungs felt like they were shrinking. I don’t know what caused it but I didn’t question it. I hurried out of the door with my pugios in hand. I needed air, but I wasn’t stupid.

I pushed open the warehouse door and stepped out into the field. The cold night air surrounded me and I took a deep breath. I felt better now that I was outside, but something was bothering me. It felt like someone else was there. I sharpened my senses and looked around me. I saw a shape sitting by the warehouse wall and I sneaked my way over to them. As I got closer I could hear stifled sobs coming from them. It wasn’t until I was right in front of them that I realised who it was: Leo. He was sobbing and shaking badly. I didn’t know what to do, and honestly, I just wanted to run away. I wanted to forget that I ever saw him and then in the morning pretend that nothing had happened.

But my body refused to listen to my brain and I sat down beside him. He jumped and looked at me. His face was stained with tears and his eyes were puffy and red. He looked nothing like the boy I’d met earlier.

He hastily dried his tears and raked his hands through his hair.

“So, what brings you to this beautiful place, babe?” He winked and tried to laugh, but it sounded more like a strangled cry.

“Stop that,” I said. “Somethings wrong. I’m not stupid you know?” I didn’t mean for my words to sound so harsh and it hurt when I saw Leo flinch.

“Sorry,” I said scratching my neck. “I didn’t mean for it to come out so harshly. And you can tell me what’s wrong if you want.” I didn’t want to say that but it just came out. I blame Venus. After I’d said that an awkward silence, which sometimes was filled with Leo’s snivels, was left hanging in the air. I couldn’t handle it. I was extremely ready to go inside again and head straight to bed. Right as I stood up Leo sighed.

“Yeah, okay. Might as well tell someone,” he said. He muttered something that sounded like ‘at least to someone I know might use it against me’.

I sat down again and he shifted a bit. It seemed as if he really didn’t want to tell me, but something was making him do it. He held up his hands and they lit up. Weak yellow flames surrounded his hands. His face was illuminated by the fire and I could see that his tears kept falling when he looked at it. The flames burned out and he lowered his hands again. He started speaking quietly, his voice thick with tears.

“When I was a kid, my mom owned a mechanic shop where I spent most of my time. She taught me a lot, and she was the best mom anyone could ever ask for.” He was speaking through a strangled voice as if he tried to suppress the words.

“The earth goddess, Gaea, didn’t want me around. She made me burn down my mom’s shop, killing my mom in the process. I-I…. I-I murdered my mom with my fire.” The way he said ‘fire’ almost made me cry. I don’t cry. Ever.

“After that, I couldn’t live with myself,” Leo said quietly. Once again it seemed as if he was being forced to talk. I wanted to comfort him but I had no idea how. I’m better at fighting than comforting. This was way out of my comfort zone.

“I’ll spare you the rest of my tragic childhood, and jump to last year instead,” he said jokingly. It didn’t really seem like the right time to be joking but if it makes things easier for him it works.

“About two years ago I was part of this prophecy. It wasn’t exactly a nice prophecy, it was about how seven half-bloods were going to defeat mother earth and save the world. You know, the hag who wanted to kill me. Well, the prophecy also said that either me or my friend Jason was going to die. Fun stuff, right?” He had a solemn smile on his face.

“Well, that part came true. I died last year,” he said. “But I came back to life because of this physician’s cure this god had made, and after that, I saved an immortal goddess.” He let out a sad laugh. “If I only had known what a mess that would be.”

He tilted his head back and looked up at the sky.

“I really liked this goddess, and I thought she liked me too. She said she did.” He sighed and closed his eyes, small tears falling across his cheeks. He looked at me and he seemed a bit calmer then he’d been when I first sat down.

“I should probably explain why I’m acting like a crying little kid, huh?”

I nodded like ‘Go ahead, I don’t mind’.

To be honest, I didn’t really follow his story. He made every sentence so short and with little to no information that I simply had no idea what he was saying.

“Well, when that prophecy happened I had to use my fire powers a lot. I didn’t really think what those powers meant to me back then, I was too busy trying to save the world. But now…” He sighed.

“Now, I don’t have a huge world ending thing to distract me anymore. So my mind goes to all those places and anxieties I repressed during my quest. And on top of those anxieties, the only person who I ever actually thought was in love with me turned out to have had her feelings manipulated by a curse.”

I couldn’t understand what Venus had been talking about. This kid shouldn’t be forced into a relationship with me, he should get some help with his PTSD instead. As far as I could tell from the little information he’d given me his life had been really hard. A relationship wasn’t the first priority here, the first priority was to get this kid some help.

Leo pulled himself together and dried his remaining tears.

“All of that probably made no sense to you,” he said and laughed a little.

“Not really,” I admitted. “But it seemed like you needed to talk so I don’t care.” I smiled at him and he looked shocked for a moment before smiling back.

“So,” he said and looked at the sky. “I spilled my tragic life story, so it’s only fair that you tell yours.” I laughed at him until I realised that he was serious.

“Sorry,” I simply said. I could tell him. It wouldn’t be fair if I knew his story and he didn’t know mine, even if I only knew short parts of his life. I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

“I’m only telling you so that we’re even,” I said and glanced him. He nodded and I started thinking about where to begin.

“So, my dad’s Neptune, right? And because of that, my life hasn’t always been the easiest.” I thought for a second before continuing.

“When I was five or something I went to camp Jupiter. Sucky roman camp, you might have heard of it. Anyway, I wasn’t exactly well liked thereafter they knew who my dad was, so I ran away. Somehow, my five-year-old self made it from California to Washington DC all alone. Don’t ask me how cause I honestly don’t know.” I scratched my head thinking about what to say next. He had talked about his mom so…

“So my mom’s a marine biologist at this fancy research centre in Washington, which might give you a clue to why my dad liked her. I also have a stepmom who’s a nurse. Oh and she’s a demigod too, an Apollo kid.” I frowned. “And I guess my mom is like, an eights god or something? She told me something about my great grandmother being Hecate so that’s something I guess.” I couldn’t come up with anything to really talk about so I just continued to ramble. In comparison to what he told me, my story was pretty lame.   
“And I also have a stepsister. Though, if you saw her you probably couldn’t tell. She looks so much like me that people think that we’re twins.” My tone must have been pretty funny because Valdez laughed a bit. It felt nice having him happy again. I can handle cheerful people way easier than solemn people.

“She’s a bit older than me, and she’s a quarter god I think. Her parents were friends with my stepmom but they died so she took care of her instead.” I stopped for a second. It wasn’t my place to tell him about my sister. I tried to talk about something else instead. In reality, I was just grasping at straws, trying to come up with something to talk about. I felt like I owed to him my life story, which was weird.

“And I have a dog too. His name is Archie. He’s this massive hairy ball of energy that loves cuddles and carrying potatoes in his mouth for some reason.” This time, Leo laughed harder than before.

“Why potatoes? That’s weirdly specific?” I simply shrugged.

“My dog’s weird, man.”

He just laughed.

After our ‘talk’ we sat in silence watching the night sky. It was such a peaceful moment that I didn’t want to ruin it by going inside again.

Suddenly something warm and dense landed on my shoulder. I looked over and saw Leo sleeping peacefully. I felt uncomfortable having him using me as a pillow but I didn’t want to wake him up. I sighed and got a bit more comfortable. I could technically carry him inside but it required too much effort. I accepted that where I was at the moment was where I would sleep that night.


	19. CHAPTER 18, Cuddle monster Charlie

SILENA

Charlie’s heart was beating slowly against my ear. His skin was that type of warm that only Hephaestus kids’ skin were. I had my arms wrapped around his torso and he was petting my hair slowly. He wasn’t one for PDA but when we were alone he was an absolute cuddle monster. It was a big shock to me when we first started dating. He would randomly pull me into hugs and kiss my forehead, not that I minded really, it was just surprising. I learnt pretty quickly that I shouldn’t wear my nicest clothes when we were alone, and that oil stains are on your clothes forever.

But even though he was a cuddle monster we hadn’t actually done “it” until we came back to America. I won’t go into details (children might be reading this after all!) but whatever you’ve heard about it is probably wrong. But that’s something for another day.

Charlie kissed the top of my head and I snuggled closer to his chest. We hadn’t cuddled together like that for a while, mainly because we were constantly on the road. The only thing I could hear was the beat of his heart and it put me at ease. But even so…

I felt terrible. I tried to put on a brave face in front of the others but I didn’t want to go on this stupid quest either. I agreed with Annabeth back at camp because I knew that Chiron was determined that she was right, and I wouldn’t gain anything from fighting him. But when I laid on the bed Charlie and I had borrowed I wished that I had refused. I should have told him that he was wrong and that we were going to stay at camp. I was going to hang out with Clarisse and my siblings and…

“Silena?” Charlie whispered. “You’re shaking…” He grabbed my hand in his calloused one. “What’s wrong?”

I snuggled even closer to his chest and tangled my legs with his. I hadn’t taken any pyjamas with me on the quest, seeing as I didn’t think that we would sleep in a bed so I had borrowed some clothes from Missy. She was a bit taller than me so her pyjama pants went way past my ankles but they were comfortable either way.

“I just…” I sighed. “I really didn’t want to go on this quest. We just got back to camp and leaving right away was just…”

“Too much?” Charlie asked.

“Yeah.”

“I know,” he whispered. “We worked so hard to get back and the first thing they do is send us away again. It’s not fair.”

“I know,” I sighed.

After that, we stayed silent for a while until we eventually dozed off.


	20. CHAPTER 19, Beyoncé joins our team

JAKE

I was woken up by people running around like crazy chickens. My heart started beating like crazy and I hurried out of bed. Without thinking about it I quickly hid under it. It was dark under there and I could feel the vibrations from people’s feet through the floor. My breathing was quick and I was shaking.

Who was out there? Were they looking for something? Were they going to throw me out? Did I steal something again? If I did I didn’t mean to! Were they going to kill me?

A million thoughts raced through my head, every one of them making my heart beat even faster.

After a while, someone opened the door to the room I was borrowing. I crawled further in under the bed. I felt like a scared rabbit, foolishly hiding from its predator.

I could see someone’s feet coming into the room. They walked around the room, opening wardrobes and drawers, looking for something.

“Jake?” a familiar voice said. “Are you here?”

I recognized Silena’s voice, but I couldn’t be sure that it really was her. I’d heard about monsters that could mimic someone’s voice. I tried to stay as still as possible under the bed but I obviously wasn’t quiet enough. I bumped into the wall and the person in the room turned towards the bed. They slowly made their way over to the bed and bent down. They looked under the bed and I could finally see their face. It really was Silena.

I felt like an idiot for being so scared, but I knew why I’d reacted like I had. When I lived in the orphanage the kids there used to mess with me all the time. I knew that as soon as I heard hurried footsteps I should hide. That knowledge had been useful after my orphanage had been destroyed. I’m not sure how it happened, just that one minute I was lying in bed and the next I was outside on the road with rubble all over me. After that happened I lived the next two years on the streets. My mom was in prison so I couldn’t live with her, which made the streets seem like my only option. I wish my mom hadn’t been caught all those years ago. She was caring and considerate, but she was also a kleptomaniac. She and some of her friends had been robbing a local museum when they got caught. I have only been able to talk to her once since, and the last words she said to me were,

I’m sorry kiddo.

Silena looked at me, concerned.

“Jake? What’s wrong?” she asked. She stretched out a hand towards me and I flinched. I didn’t mean too, and the hurt look on her face made me feel like the worst person in the world. I could feel tears sting in my eyes but I pushed them down. I was not going to cry.

“Do you want to come out of there?” Silena asked carefully. I didn’t want to but I did either way. It was stupid hiding under the bed either way. I crawled out from under there and sat down on it. I tried to gather myself and started to comb through my hair with my fingers. It was a nervous habit of mine. Silena sat down beside me.

“Why were you under the bed?” she asked quietly.

“Oh, it was nothing, I just thought that the warehouse was under attack or something,” I answered jokingly. I could tell that she knew there was something else but she didn’t push me.

“Anyway,” I said, pulling my hair up in a bun. “Why were you all running around like chickens with their heads cut off?” Silena’s face fell and she got up from the bed.

“We can’t find Leo or Dylan anywhere in the warehouse.” She sounded really scared.

“Have you checked outside?” I asked. “Maybe they’re outside training or something?”

Silena’s face was priceless. She burrowed her head in her hands and sighed.

“We didn’t even think to look outside,” she muttered. I laughed and stood up. Silena walked out of the room to give me some privacy whilst I put on some clothes. I’d only slept in a t-shirt and boxers last night, and my clothes were scattered across the floor. I put them on and walked out of the room. Silena waited for me outside the door and we walked down to the front door together.

I opened the door slowly and stepped out, the weapon Ruth had made me in hand. She was freakishly quick at making weapons, and it seemed to be really good quality too. She had made me a spear that looked super cool.

The cool morning air hit me and I shivered. It was April for gods’ sake, why was it still so cold!? I walked out into the field and looked around. I couldn’t see them but maybe they were on the other side of the warehouse.

“AOUCH!” someone yelled. “WHAT THE HADES!?”

I quickly turned around and found myself face-to-face with Dylan’s sword. When she recognized me she lowered her sword and apologized.

“Is that just how you do things!?” someone yelled at Dylan. “Push people awake and then try to stab someone!?”

I looked towards the sound and saw Leo laying on the ground with a shocked look on his face. His face made me laugh. Silena joined in and Dylan just rolled her eyes at us. I wondered why he and Dylan were outside and why he’d said that she had woken him up.

Did they sleep out here last night?

I had a feeling that if I asked about it Dylan would punch me.

“Come on,” Silena said between laughs. “Let’s go inside and prepare to kick some monster butt.”

After getting some breakfast and gearing up we got into the van once again. This time Dylan drove with Leo sitting shotgun. I was a little bit disappointed that Leo wasn’t sitting beside me. It sounds stupid, but I thought he seemed cool. And he was really cute. To be honest, the biggest reason I wanted to sit beside him was that he was cute.

After we had driven for around three hours Dylan stopped the engine.

“Be careful when you get out of the car,” she said quietly, looking into the backseat. “We’re at the bottom of the mountain and there’s already a lot of monsters nearby.”

She opened her door and got out, everyone else following suit. When everyone was out of the van and had gotten all their stuff, Leo pressed a button on the car keys. The keys made a sound and the car started shrinking. It continued to shrink until it was the size, and shape, of a keychain. It was pretty impressive.

“Woah...” Des said. “Did you do that? How did you do that?”

Leo gave her a mischievous grin and hooked the keychain to his tool belt.

“You know it, Sunflower,” he said and winked at her. I felt slightly jealous.

“Come on,” Dylan said and rolled her eyes. “Let’s get going.”

“Be quiet,” Beckendorf whispered. He was hunched behind a rock, looking into a clearing filled with monsters. We were about halfway up the mountain when Beckendorf told us to hide. At first, I didn’t understand why but then I spotted them. Monsters, about a dozen of them, surrounding a campfire. Pigs were running around them, desperately trying to get away and to not become monster chow.

It felt like I had seen people like those monsters before, and then it hit me. They looked exactly like my dad – I mean stepdad. Huge, bad teeth and dozens of tattoos. They made me want to run and hide, it felt as if they were yelling at me to shut up and mind my own business.

Now I know what you’re probably thinking: Oh my gods this kid’s backstory is so sad and cliché blah blah blah. I don’t care if you think its cliché or sad. I already know that and I can’t really do anything about it. That’s how my life was until this point and I wish I could do something about it but I can’t. I can’t.

All my life I had thought that my stepdad was actually my dad. My mom said he wasn’t, but I thought she was just being nice because she knew how much I hated and feared him. So when I got claimed it felt as if my parent issue… wasn’t an issue anymore. I wasn’t related to that scumbag. I was related to a Greek god.

Seeing those monsters made me feel really scared, but also angry. I wanted payback. I wanted to destroy them, destroy the things that looked so much like that scum I had to live with for almost 15 years.

I hadn’t even realised I had been moving until Beckendorf pulled me back. He held me in a tight grip and stared at me.

“What are you doing?” he asked, brows furrowed. He didn’t even seem to be trying to keep me in place. I suppose those muscles weren’t just for show.

“I-I don’t know,” I whispered. His frown deepened but he let it go. He looked over the rock for a second before ducking down again.

“We’re going to try to take them out,” he whispered. “Stay close to me, Silena or Dylan. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

What he said was completely reasonable. I had never fought before so it would make sense for me to stay close to someone who was a veteran. But even though it made sense, it ticked me off. I don’t know why, but it just made me feel angry.

‘Who’s he to tell you what to do?’ a voice in the back of my head asked. It sounded a bit like my own, but colder and rougher.

‘These people are just like your father, you deserve to annihilate them,’ the voice said.

Yeah, I thought. Yeah, I do.

I emerged from behind the rock and stormed right into the camp. Monsters came for me from left and right and I tried to fend them off. In the beginning, it went really well. My movements were quick and it felt as if someone else was guiding me or controlling me. But then, that feeling disappeared.

My moments turned sloppy and I realised what I was doing. I was surrounded by massive monsters, and I could barely remember how I got there. My legs were shaking and it felt as if they were going to give out any second. I was lucky that I wasn’t alone.

A hammer flew through the air and smashed into the head of the monster closest to me. It didn’t seem as if it hurt that much, but he was definitely annoyed. The monsters turned away from me and looked at my companions instead. I scurried away from them and ran back to Beckendorf.

“What were you thinking!?” he scolded and I flinched. Beckendorf looked mad, but also scared. Something about these monsters seemed to be freaking him out too.

“What are those things?” Des asked, her voice shaking. She stood behind Dylan, the latter acting as a shield.

“Laistrygonian giants,” Beckendorf answered. “They’re strong, but not very smart. And they have flaming dodgeballs.”

“Flaming dodgeballs?”

Des’ question got answered by a flaming ball flying towards her. Dylan summoned a wave of water from seemingly out of nowhere and put out the flaming dodgeball. The metallic ball that was left fell to the ground and just laid there. The giants growled and bared their ugly teeth.

Taking down the monsters was just a big blur. Swords where clashing, fire was thrown and there was just a general mess of movement.

When things calmed down and I could realise what was happening again I saw that the monsters had been reduced to golden dust. Desirée’s jacket had been singed and Leo had a big bruise starting to form on his jaw. I could only stare at the others. It felt as if I wasn’t there; as if I was a million miles away. It felt as if I wasn’t myself.

“Jake?”

I snapped out of it and turned to look at Silena. Her hair was a mess and her brows were furrowed, but she still looked beautiful.

“Yeah?”

She reached out towards me and I flinched, but she didn’t stop. She touched my cheek and it hurt. She showed me her hand and her fingers were covered with blood. I reached up to my cheek and looked at my hand. Just as hers, it was also covered in blood. I hadn’t even noticed that I had been cut. Silena took off her backpack and pulled out a small cube of something.

“Here,” she said and handed it over to me. “It’s ambrosia, it’ll heal your cut.”

I hesitantly ate it, and I was surprised. I thought it would taste really bad, but it was delicious. It tasted like my mom’s mamons. It made me feel nostalgic of when my mom and I used to cook things together. I had helped her cook since I was a baby, even if I was crap at it back then. I could feel tears well up in my eyes but I refused to cry.

After the taste of mamons had disappeared I could feel something bump against my leg. When I looked down an adorable pig looked up at me. It was the cutest thing I had ever seen in my life. I couldn’t help myself; I picked the pig up and hugged it. It was surprisingly warm and nice to hug.

“Uhh… Man, what are you doing?” Leo asked.

“What does it look like?” I muttered into the pigs hide. I guess it must have looked really stupid, but the pig was so cute. I’m a sucker for cute things, okay?

Des walked over to me and the pig and I put it down on the ground so we could pet it together. Des cooed at the pig and it seemed to like it. It was wagging its tail as we petted it and I felt my heart melt.

“Guys, we need to go,” Dylan said. “Stop petting the pig and let’s go.”   
Des and I just stared at her. Were we just supposed to leave it here? What if it got caught by monsters again? What if it got hurt?

I gave her my best puppy dog eyes and she seemed to give in, even if it was just a little. I had a sneaking suspicion she didn’t want to leave the pig either.

“Well, what are we supposed to do then? Take it with us?”

Des and I nodded and Dylan burrowed her face in her hands.

“We can’t bring it with us,” Beckendorf said. “It might get hurt plus it will probably slow us down…” He quieted down when the pig went over to him and bumped his leg with its snout. It seemed as if not even Beckendorf could withstand the pig’s cuteness.

“Okay, fine,” he sighed. “We’ll take her with us.”

“YES!” Desirée shouted. She clamped her hands over her mouth and cautiously looked around her. When no monsters came barging at us she put down her hands.

“Well if we’re going to bring this little cutie with us, she needs a name doesn’t she?” Leo asked. Dylan stared at him as if he couldn’t believe her ears. I started thinking about names until Des burst out:

“Beyoncé!”

We all just stared at her as if she was crazy.

“Are you implying that Beyoncé is a pig?” Silena asked. “Because that is absurd.”

“No, no!” Des exclaimed and shook her hands. “Beyoncé is my dance idol who got me into dancing and stuff and I’ve just always wanted to name a pet after her because she’s so cool and…” Des ran out of breath and I laughed.

“Well then,” I laughed. “Welcome to the gang, Beyoncé!” Everyone except Dylan smiled. She just stared at all of us as if we had lost our mind. She seemed to want to yell at us, but surprisingly, she didn’t. She sighed and picked up Beyoncé.

“I don’t trust you to defend yourselves and… Beyoncé, so I’ll take care of her.” Dylan put Beyoncé in her backpack, which worked seeing as Beyoncé was pretty small, and walked further up the mountain. Beyoncé’s head and front feet hung out of the bag and she looked at us and she oinked happily. You’d think that she would be scared of being so high up, but she wasn’t. She was certainly a brave pig.


	21. CHAPTER 20, We meet an old friend

CHARLES

The rest of the way up the mountain was quite safe. There were monsters here and there but we were able to avoid them. And those we couldn’t avoid got hit with one of Leo’s hammers.

The way up the mountain was slow, and it gave me a lot of time to think. When I first saw the Laistrygonian giants, I froze. When Percy and I had tried to destroy the Princess Andromeda I had been caught by Laistrygonian giants, and if it wasn’t for them I might have been able to make it out alive. But in the end, I didn’t. They slowed me down, so when the ship exploded I couldn’t get away.

In that moment, I couldn’t help but think of Silena. I had promised her that I would make it out of there alive and that we would have a picnic in the strawberry field afterwards. I broke that promise to her, and my last thoughts were that I was sorry. I was sorry that I couldn’t keep my promise.

I came back to my senses when Silena linked her arm through mine. She leaned into my arm and I could smell the scent of her shampoo. When we had travelled we couldn’t shower a lot, and when we could we used cheap shampoo’s we stole from hotels. I had missed the smell of Silena’s vanilla and chocolate shampoo.

I kissed the top of her head and she smiled. We were about to run straight into a camp filled with monsters but she could still steal all of my attention.

“Stop,” Dylan whispered and hunched behind a large rock. We all followed suit and I waited for something to happen. I didn’t have to wait long until a dracanae walked past us. She was talking to herself, hissing smugly. We waited until she was out of sight before we continued walking.

“Why didn’t you stab it?” Desirée asked Dylan. Dylan readjusted her backpack before she answered.

“Sometimes you have to pick your battles. She wasn’t posing a threat to us.” Desirée didn’t seem to understand what she meant, and I couldn’t blame her. We had taken down monsters that didn’t exactly pose a threat before, so I could understand her confusion.

We walked for a few more minutes before we could hear faint growls and hisses. We approached the sounds slowly until the things emitting it came into view. There were about a few dozen monsters at the top of the mountain, all of them standing in a circle around something. I couldn’t see what was in the middle of the circle until it stood up. In the middle of the monster circle was a huge bull-like creature with an axe on its back. It was hairy and buff, and I tried to remember what it was. The name was right on my tongue, but I couldn’t remember it.

“The Minotaur,” Silena whispered in my ear.

“They look like they’re worshipping it,” Leo whispered. He seemed to feel a bit better now that he had felt when we were in Bunker 9.

“Yeah,” Jake muttered. “And what’s with his eye? It’s all golden and glowy.”

I didn’t know what he was talking about until I looked closer at the Minotaur’s face. His right eye was glowing gold. It looked like…

“Luke’s eyes…” Silena whispered. She was staring at it and her hands were shaking. I put my arm around her and pulled her close. I knew how guilty she felt about betraying the camp, and especially how Luke had manipulated her. And she was right, the Minotaur’s eye looked exactly like Luke’s had looked when he was being possessed by Kronos. But that couldn’t be the reason for the Minotaur’s eye being golden. Luke had destroyed Kronos and there was no way he’d be able to reassemble his body that quickly, unless…

“If we got resurrected,” I whispered to Silena. “Maybe Kronos would be able to be resurrected too?”

Silena looked at me, fear clear in her eyes. Her mouth formed the word ‘no’ without any sound coming out.

I jumped when a low, chilly voice I recognized said:

“I think we have some visitors.”

The Minotaur was looking at where we were hiding, and all the other monsters followed his line of sight. I could feel their stares and it brought chills up my spine.

“Massssssster,” something hissed. “Can we eat the visssitorsssss?”

“No,” the chilling voice of the Minotaur said. “We should welcome our guests first.”

I looked over at Dylan to see what she made of the situation. Her eyes were stern and her jaw was set; she looked ready for battle. We silently agreed on what we had to do and slowly emerged from our hiding place. The monsters growled and hissed when they saw us, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t as scared as Desirée and Jake though. Desirée was practically glued to Dylan’s side and Jake was hiding behind Leo, which wasn’t such a good hiding spot seeing as he was at least three inches taller.

Silena slowly got something from her back pocket and hid it in the sleeve of her hoodie. I had a pretty good guess of what it was. When we were travelling through Mexico I had found some pieces of celestial bronze. Silena didn’t have a weapon at the time so it felt like an obvious decision to make her one. It took a lot of time and effort but eventually, I finished it. The weapon I had made for her was a comb, or at least that was what it looked like. One half of the comb was actually a lid, and when that lid was removed a sword revealed itself. I tried to make it like Percy’s sword, but I only had so much material and skill. But even though I wasn’t proud of the weapon I’d made, she seemed happy with it, and that’s what mattered the most.

“What do we have here?” the Minotaur said with a cruel grin on its face. “My, my, my! Six little demigods who’s come to battle the big bad Minotaur!” It laughed an earth-shaking laugh and the other monsters joined in. It chilled me down to my bones. The monsters continued laughing and slowly surrounded us. Every way I looked, there were laughing monsters, glaring teeth and hungry eyes. If the Minotaur hadn’t told them to wait they’d probably had demolished us in a second.

To be honest, I was completely terrified. People have told me that they see me as this calm, strong leader but that’s not true. I’m scared. I’m scared a lot. I’m scared of how people view me, I’m scared that people will compare my machine’s to my dad’s, I’m scared that Silena will leave me and I’m scared to lose everything again.

But even if I was scared, I couldn’t show it. I needed to be strong, I couldn’t show fear. I would not let those stupid monsters the satisfaction of scaring me.

I grasped my weapon tighter, and locked eyes with the Minotaur. I was going to be prepared for whatever it was planning.

“Is it Silena Beauregard I see?” the Minotaur asked and walked closer to her. She became startled and I stepped in front of her.

“It’s so lovely to see you again.” He grinned at her and she unsheathed her sword. A sharp bronze sword sprung out from the comb handle and she pointed it against the Minotaur.

“Now, now, Silena, we were on the same team once! You should treat an old friend better.” Okay, this guy was starting to piss me off. It was obvious that he was trying to use Silena’s past against her, and he was so not getting out of there unharmed because of that.

“Shut up,” Silena growled. Her voice was shaking and tears had started to pool in her eyes, but you couldn’t miss the absolute hatred in her eyes.

“Silena,” Jake asked. “What’s going on?” He, Desirée and Dylan looked at Silena expectantly. Leo glanced at her too, with a look of sympathy on his face. I guess they wanted to see what she was going to do. Silena was stayed quiet and simply glared at the Minotaur. It shook its head disappointedly.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk Silena. Haven’t you told your companions how you were a traitor to Camp Half-Blood? How you told Lord Kronos all of your camps little secrets? How you betrayed everyo-“

“SHUT UP!” Silena screamed and lunged at it. It dodged her attack but the damage was done. All the monsters lunged at us.


	22. CHAPTER 21, Pent up aggression is apparently not good for Minotaurs

DYLAN

I understood why Silena lunged at the Minotaur, but did she have to do it while we were surrounded by hungry monsters? As soon as she had lunged at the Minotaur all the other monsters had sprung into action.

Des screamed when a dracaenae jumped at us. I tried to impale it with my sword but it was missing from my hand. I panicked and tried to reach for it at my hip but it wasn't there either. If Leo hadn't hit it with a hammer we would have been screwed. I nodded thanks and he nodded back.

I looked around, trying to see who had taken my sword and my eyes landed on someone. Jake. He was holding my sword in his hands, standing completely still. I rushed over to him, anger building in my stomach. The ground shook with each step I took, and it proved quite useful for knocking down the monsters, even if it was unintentional. I walked up to him and snatched the sword from his hands. I was just about to curse him out when I noticed that he hadn't even moved. His hands were still positioned as if he was holding the sword and he just stared straight ahead, seemingly at nothing. His eyes were glazed over and shone slightly golden.

Golden...

Just like that damn Minotaur! I looked over at the Minotaur and saw him standing a few feet away from the raging battle. He had a satisfied smile on his face when he was looking over the crowd of monsters, but then he caught my eye. He looked surprised for a second before smiling cruelly.

I put the pieces together. The Minotaur must have been controlling Jake. But that didn't make any sense. As far as I knew the Minotaur was just a dumb, muscly monster. He shouldn't be clever enough to come up with the idea of controlling someone.

A Stymphalian bird almost crashing into me reminded me that it wasn't the right time to wonder how that bull had taken over Jake's mind; the only thing that mattered was to take that overgrown cow out. I grabbed Jake and carried him bride style over to Leo. I put him down and told Leo to take care of him before I dashed off to the bull. Dozens of monsters jumped at me on my way, but they didn't stand a chance. They might have stood a chance if I was my usual self, but now I was pissed off. More than that, I was furious. And if you've ever learned anything from mythology it's that you shouldn't mess with an angry demigod. I stormed towards the Minotaur, literally. Small hurricanes started up all around me, tearing through monsters and turning them to dust. Even though everything around me was chaos I kept my eyes locked on the Minotaur. I could see the fear appearing in his eyes, and I felt a sense of satisfaction. Serves him right for thinking he could mess with me.

The closer I got to him the more he backed away. In the end, I stood face to face with him. The winds kept raging, but I stood still; waiting for his move. It was quite a stupid move, a cocky move. I felt superior to him as if it was unimaginable that he even stood a chance.

But of course, I was proved wrong.

He charged at me and I stepped away a second too soon. He caught my leg and I fell, Beyoncé tumbling out of my backpack. She shrieked and rolled around until she hit a rock. She shakily stood up and oinked. I could see from where I was lying on the ground that she had a small scratch on her snout. Somehow that unleashed all the anger that was still locked inside me. All the anger that I hadn't quite gotten out from fighting monsters all these years got unleashed because someone hurt my pig. Figures.

"THAT'S IT!" I roared. Water shot out of the ground. All over the mountaintop, angry geysers erupted. I could feel the power surging through my body, flowing through my veins. My senses sharpened, and I was caught in a haze. I didn't fully use my powers all that often. Sure, I had manipulated some water here and there, but that wasn't anything special. That wasn't anything like this. This was intoxicating. It felt as if I had the entire ocean available to me at my fingertips.

I stood up and stared at the Minotaur. He was quivering before me and I couldn't help but smirk. He had been acting so tough before but it seemed as if he finally realized what I was. He should have known better than to mess with a daughter of Neptune.

I felt a tug at the bottom of my stomach and made a cutting motion with my hand. Water slashed across his front and the axe he was holding fell down the mountain. He roared and grabbed his arm. That was my cue.

I know that my anger makes me seem like a stupid stereotype. But the thing is, I'm not. I have to be angry to survive as a demigod, and I have to fight. I have to fight for my life, both in the godly world and in the mortal world. I have to be angry to survive. And if that makes me a stereotype, fine. I don't care. I will continue to fight.

Every slash I made at him was backed up with a thought.

Slash. My stepmom lying to me for years. Slash. Having to become some chosen one when I just wanted to be left alone. Slash. Having gods tamper with my life. Slash. Slash. Slash.

I slashed my sword against his hairy chest and he roared even louder than before. He tried to grab me by my hair but I dodged. I was probably going to be completely exhausted after the fight, but it didn't matter in the moment.

I stabbed my sword straight into his chest and he let out a deafening scream. I looked into his eyes and saw how he changed. His golden eye turned to brown and he stared into mine. He looked terrified, and it wasn't at all the same look he had before. This wasn't the same monster I had been fighting a second ago. He dissolved into dust in front of me and I felt something ache inside of me. Sure, he was a monster who had killed thousands in the old days but... He hadn't had a choice. He was being controlled by something, I was sure of it.

As the golden dust dissolved in the wind I saw something. It didn't look like the usual monster dust, it was definitely something different. If I had known back then what I know now, I would have caught that weird dust. I would have never let it get away.

When I had snapped out of my 'slayer' mindset I looked at the others. There were some monsters wrapped up in vines, so I guessed that Des had gotten some control over her powers. Jake was sitting against a rock with his knees pressed to his chest. Silena was sitting beside him, seemingly comforting him. Beckendorf and Valdez stood a bit farther away from them, talking with their heads hanging low. Something bumped my leg and I looked down. Beyoncé was nuzzling against me and I patted her on the head.

"What the..?"

I looked up at whoever was talking and was met by a shell-shocked Valdez.

"What?" I asked. Everyone else came over to see what was going on, and they looked pretty shocked. Des grinned and sat down beside Beyoncé and started petting her, and Jake followed suit. He refused to meet my eye, and I couldn't blame him. He had stolen my weapon and had almost caused Des and I a lot of harm. But even though he should be ashamed I didn't feel like letting him be so solemn. I elbowed him softly and he looked at me. Fear was clear in his eyes and it looked as if he expected me to hit him. I smiled slightly and relief flooded over him. Something had apparently changed after I battled that Minotaur because I didn't feel as annoyed. I guess letting out some pent up anger helps with one's feelings.

"Should we get going?" I asked and stood up. Instead of stashing Beyoncé in my bag I held her under my arm and started walking down the mountain.

"Uh, what?" Leo asked. I stared at him as if he was stupid.

"We found out why there were so many monsters here, right? Because of that minotaur, correct?"

"Uh... yeah," Beckendorf answered.

"So, let's get going then! Didn't that horse tell us to check things out and then get back to camp?" They all stared at me. There was a long moment of silence before Des burst out laughing. She doubled over with laughter, and I stared at her. She started walking beside me, a smile on her face. I couldn't believe that she could be so cheerful when she just had witnessed something horrible. It was a nice change , having her being so cheerful. We started to walk down the mountain and the others followed us. They probably thought we were crazy, and I couldn't blame them. We probably were.


	23. Chapter 22, A 48-hour adventure comes to an end.

DESIRÉE

I was terrified. No, terrified doesn't even begin to cover it. I was numb. It felt as if my mind had just shut down. I had never been so scared before in my entire life, and my mind couldn't take it.

I was sitting in our bronze van beside Dylan. We were only about half an hour away from camp, and I definitely felt the need to sleep in my cabin for a while. Dylan was texting her mom, telling her that she was okay and that she would be home for dinner. It was such a normal, domestic act that it almost made me forget what had happened earlier.

I could see the snake woman coming closer towards us. As much as I wanted to act be tough and take her out I couldn't do anything but scream. Dylan was fumbling for her weapon, but it was gone. The woman's scaly face was horrifying and her sharp teeth were bared. She was just about to bite Dylan's head off when a hammer crashed into the side of her face. She dissolved into a cloud of golden dust and I turned to look who had thrown the hammer. A few feet away stood Leo with his arm still raised. Dylan nodded slightly at him before darting off to somewhere. Leo walked up to me and my face started to feel hot.

Don't judge me okay! He was cute and he just saved my life.

"Are you okay?" he asked and fiddled with his tool belt. I nodded and screamed. Behind him was a slimy creature almost biting his head off. Leo turned around screamed too. The creature lunged at him and he dodged. It fell flat on its face and it was an oddly silly gesture for such a disgusting thing. Leo stood up and hit the monster with another hammer, and it also dissolved into dust. Where did he get so many hammers from?

After that, the monsters just coming. Leo and I had to fight for our lives, and I have no idea how I made it. My legs were shaking the entire time and I felt as I was going to start crying any second. I was pretty much defenceless except for a hammer that Leo gave me and some seeds Miranda had given me before leaving camp. The odds were stacked against me, but I made it. It was probably all thanks to my mom.

I was surrounded by monsters, slowly creeping closer towards me. My legs had given out on me and tears were starting to pool in my eyes. They bared their fangs and laughed at me. I was ready to give up when I felt a tug in my stomach. It felt as if something was making me take root, keeping me grounded. And not just that, I could sense something. I could sense something in the ground, sort of like veins. I was barely thinking when I dug my hands into the ground and willed the veins to entrap the monsters around me. Rough green vines shot out of the ground and wrapped themselves around the monsters. They roared as the vines tightened around them and left them hanging in the air. They bared their fangs at me and desperately tried to get loose but they were stuck. I dug my hands up from the ground and a wave of exhaustion hit me. I tried to stand up but my legs instantly gave out on me. I would have smashed my head into the ground if Leo hadn't caught me.

"Woah there," he said as he helped me sit up. "Take it easy kiddo. You just created a jungle, I think that gives you time for a nap." I looked at him, my brows furrowed.

"But there are so many more monsters! I can't take a nap now! We have to continue-"

Leo shushed me.

"I think our resident kid of the big three has got it covered." I was just about to ask him what he meant when I felt a strong wind blowing through. It made the veins whip around and the monsters who were trapped in them screamed. I looked over to where the winds came from and saw Dylan walking towards the Minotaur we saw earlier. Her jet-black braids had been released from her bun and whipped around her face. She looked like a goddess the way she fearlessly walked towards the Minotaur. She was so cool.

I continued to watch as she attacked the Minotaur and as she fell to the ground. I wanted to rush in and help her, even if I knew that I was completely useless to her in the moment. I tried to get up but Leo kept me down. He had a tight grip on my arm and I couldn't get free. He may have looked scrawny, but he sure wasn't weak.

I jumped when Dylan screamed. Her voice echoed in my head and I could swear that my bones were shaking. The ground shook beneath us and geysers started erupting all over. Leo dragged me aside just in time for me not to get boiled alive. He dragged me up on my feet and we ran away as far as we could from Dylan's battle. We ducked being a large rock that had gone unharmed during the battle. I almost tripped over Jake who sat curled up against the stone. He looked like a complete mess. Leo sat down beside him and rubbed his arm.

"How's it going, buddy?" Jake shuddered at Leo's touch and pulled away. Leo looked hurt but his expression quickly changed to worry. I wondered what had happened to him. He had seemed shaken up ever since we had left the warehouse, especially after we had met those huge, tattooed monsters. He looked sorta as if he was guilty of something, but I couldn't come up with what.

As a deafening scream echoed over the mountaintop I wondered what the hell I had gotten myself into. I had been excited to learn that the gods existed and that I was a demigod. I thought that I would go on fun and exciting adventures like they do in fairy tales. But instead, it was fear and fear and fear and fear.

 

I got torn out of my flashback by Beckendorf slamming the brakes of the van. I lunged forward and almost hit the back of Silena's seat before Dylan pulled me back.

"What the hell, man!?" Leo yelled at Beckendorf before he got shushed by Silena. There was a dead silence in the car except for an angry beeping sound. I looked into the front seat and saw the monster detector beeping angrily. It looked like one of those circular locators that ships have, except that it showed monsters instead of boats and whales. The screen was showing dozens of glowing dots rapidly moving east.

"Where are they going?" Jake muttered sleepily. He had been out cold as soon everything had calmed down, but I guess he had been woken up by Beckendorf slamming the breaks.

"It seems like they're headed for Camp Half-Blood," Silena warned. "We better hurry there and help them out."

No one disagreed so Beckendorf pushed the pedal to the metal and we sped the last few miles to camp.

 

Me and Jake were hiding behind a large wall of vines. When we had gotten to camp it was practically overrun by monsters. Everyone was fighting as hard as they could. I could see Miranda trapping monsters in vines just as I had done at the top of Mount Katahdin, Percy and Annabeth were fighting side by side and I spotted Chiron running around shooting arrows like a madman.

I turned to my right to say something to Jake but he was gone. I looked all around me but I couldn't find him. Someone I could find though was Dylan. I ran over to her as fast as I could, stumbling into a few monsters here and there.

"Dylan!"

She turned towards me and I clung to her side. She somehow managed to fight monsters and lead us into the border of camp at the same time. She commanded me to duck and dodge whenever she needed it and the way to the camp border went pretty smoothly. When we stumbled onto the top of the hill I let go of Dylan. She was just about ready to head into the battle again but she stayed with me to see if I was okay.

 

When my mind caught up to the fact that I was safe my legs gave out. I fell into a heap on the ground and I felt tears stinging in my eyes. I tried to hold them in but it was useless. All the fear I had felt during the quest was let out in a snotty, wet mess. I felt Dylan pull me into a hug and I sobbed loudly into her chest. I had no idea how she could be so calm when I was terrified. I thought I wanted to be a half-blood and to go on magical quests, but I didn't. I wanted to go home, to eat my stepmoms food and to hear my step-brother complain about basketball practice. I wanted to forget what I'd seen during the quest. I wanted to be normal again.

I don't know how long I wept for, or how long Dylan hugged me but eventually, my tears had all tried up and my head hurt. She let go of me and placed her hands on my shoulders, looking at my face. She seemed to be checking for injuries and when she was satisfied she pulled me up to my feet. I wobbled a bit but she held my shoulders tightly until I regained my balance. I knew that I was right about her being cool.

The silence was broken by a cheerful oinking. I looked at Dylan with my brows furrowed and she frowned. She took off her backpack and opened it. Beyoncé's head popped out and she oinked happily at us. Dylan carefully lifted Beyoncé out of the bag and the pig started to run around our feet. We laughed quietly until someone cleared their throat in front of us. I looked up and locked eyes with Percy. He had a lopsided smirk on his face but his eyes looked troubled.

"So one of you come back with a baby and the others come back with a pig?" he asked and tilted his head.

"A baby?" I asked and stared at him. Silena wasn't pregnant... was she?

"Yeah, the Hermes kid, Jake? He walked into camp with one of our satyr's baby on his arm. The baby, Chuck, had been missing for a few minutes and I was sure that coach Hedge was going to kill someone." He laughed slightly before he furrowed his brows.

"Hey, Dylan, didn't your eyes change colour?" He asked the question so casually, almost as if he had known her forever. I looked up at Dylan and she nodded casually.

"They look kinda like mine," he stated.

"I guess they do," she answered. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, not really."

Percy nodded and seemed to think about something. I couldn't understand what was going on between them, but it seemed kind of like a bonding moment.

"So you're my half-sister then?" 

My mouth fell open. I hadn't exactly thought that he was stupid or anything, but he didn't seem like the type of person who could catch on so quickly.

"Yup."

Percy nodded again. "Roman or Greek?" he asked, squinting his eyes. I don't know what he thought he would accomplish by that but hey, you do you.

"Roman," she answered and tilted her head. There were no people around us, so noone could hear her, which I suppose was the reason she said it. It seemed as if there was a silent battle between, trying to evaluate each other and trying to figure out who the other one was.

Percy eventually shrugged and put his hands in the front pocket of his pants.

"So should we, like, go on a fishing trip or something with dad sometime or what? I don't really know what you do with your teenage half-sister who you just learned existed?"

Dylan shrugged.

"Yeah, sure," she said. "I guess that's what siblings do." I had no idea what just happened but I think that they had reached some sort of treaty.

They awkwardly smiled at each other before Dylan's face turned stern. She seemed to be looking at something over Percy's shoulder and I followed her line of sight.

Chiron was walking towards us with a smile on his face.

"Dylan! Desirée! I'm glad you all came back safely!" Dylan didn't answer and I followed suit. I sort of blamed him for sending us on the quest so I didn't feel like being polite. His smile faded and his hooves twitched. Wait... HOOVES!? Holy- Wait, never mind. Of course, he was a Centaur. Why not. It wasn't the most shocking thing I'd learned that day.

"Did you find anything on your quest?" he asked uncertainly. I guess the way Dylan glared at him made him uneasy. Which didn't really make sense, seeing as he had trained basically every Greek hero ever, and they seemed way scarier than Dylan.

"Yeah."

There was a silence between us that was only interrupted by Beyoncé's oinks.

"W-well, when you feel like telling me I shall be waiting in the big house." I nodded at him and watched as he walked away, feeling slightly proud of myself. I don't stand up to authority that often but I have to admit that I enjoy it.

I looked at Dylan and our eyes met. I smiled at her and she shot me a tight smile. She walked past Percy and Beyoncé followed happily. I started to go after her but Percy stopped me.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice quiet. I didn't have to answer, he understood. He hunched until he could look me straight in the eyes.

"I know that you're scared. I was too after I got home from my first quest, but you'll adapt. After a while, it won't be as scary to see some dracnae or cyclopses, it'll be normal."

"I don't want this to be normal," I whispered. He gave me a sad smile. 

"None of us do."

Someone called after him and he stood up straight. He yelled something back before putting a hand on my shoulder. 

"You can do this," he said and hurried over to the person calling him. I watched him run away and then turned my eyes to the big house. I took a deep breath and headed towards it. This was my first quest, it's okay to be scared, I told myself. It was time to tell Chiron and the others about our 48-hour adventure.


End file.
